TerminatorX: Revenge of the Machines
by Anguirus111
Summary: Even with Skynet no longer existing, a final battle will still be fought between man and machine and the machines will have vengeance! (Robocop vs. Terminator)
1. No fate? Not a chance!

Anguirus111 Note: I really hated the direction this story had been going so I've rewritten just about the entire thing so it will be more along the lines of my original vision.  I've seen Terminator 3 and I really liked it so I've incorporated that story into my own.  So basically the first three movies have all occurred, but an event will be changed at the end of the third movie so that things don't turn out the same.  BTW, read the novel, it'll make more sense to what I'm writing.  All commentary is John Connor's.

2003, CRS Laboratories, Edwards Air Force Base: General Brewster reached out to touch the keypad and activate Skynet.  But just before he touched the screen, he pulled up his arm and violently sneezed.  He looked up in a sort of a daze from the sneeze.

"Sorry," he said.  He then reached for the keyboard when Kate Brewster appeared just outside the room.

"Daddy?" she asked.  General Brewster turned to face her having still not touched the keypad.

"Kate, honey, what are you doing here?" he asked.  Then several bullets struck Kate and she fell over.  He ran to her when he heard another voice.

"Get away from it!" someone shouted.  Brewster spun around to see another Kate on the other side of the room with two men, one of them holding an AK-47.  Brewster was confused out of his mind and then he saw the original Kate get up and fire several rounds into him from her pistol.  Brewster prepared for the impact and closed his eyes.  However the bullets never came so he looked to Kate being flung backwards by grenades being fired by the tall individual.  Kate was then flung backwards through the ventilation shaft.  The figure walked to the ventilation shaft and looked down it.

"She'll be back," said the Terminator.

"What's going on here?" demanded General Brewster.  The figure walked back to him as people began vacating the room.

"The end of the world unless we stop it.  Has Skynet gained control of the military yet?" asked John.  The Terminator glanced over a few screens.

"Negative, Skynet is self-aware, but not in control.  At least not yet," said the Terminator.  Brewster poked up at the work 'Skynet'.

"How do you know about a top secret government project?" he demanded.

"There's no time!  We have to shutdown Skynet before Judgment Day occurs," said John.

"What?" asked Brewster again confused.  John groaned.

"Daddy, all explanations can wait until later, we do need to shut down Skynet," said Kate leading him out of the room towards his office.

"But it is going to fight the virus," said Brewster.

"It is the virus!" shouted John.

"No, no that isn't possible," said Brewster, but inwardly he knew it had to be true.

"Oh yes, it is.  Give him a brief overlay of what's going to happen," said John to the Terminator as they kept walking down various hallways.

"In less that an hour, Skynet will launch all of the United States nuclear weapons at targets all over the world.  At least three billion lives will perish on that day while the radiation will permanently blot out the sunlight.  Skynet then creates Hunter Killers and Terminators to eradicate the remaining human population.  John Connor and Katherine Brewster will lead the remaining humans to various victories over Skynet," said the Terminator checking a hallway for any sign of the T-X or other CRS technology.  They could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions that indicated that while Skynet might've had some control over various robots, it did not have much control beyond that.

"How do you know all that?" demanded Brewster.  The Terminator tilted his head to show a piece of metal underneath his skin.

"I am from that future," he said.  Brewster's eyes went wide-open.

"Oh my god," he said as suddenly everything seemed to make sense.  "Then that other Kate, she was another Terminator from the future?"

"Correct," said the Terminator.  He stopped at another intersection and motion for them to stop.  Two T-1's were at both ends of the hallway searching for any remaining humans.

"I'll be back," said the Terminator as it disappeared into the ceiling above.  Brewster just shook his head.

"I must be dreaming," he said.  Connor laughed.

"Now you know how I feel everyday," he said.  Then several shots were heard, as the two T-1's seemed to open fire on each other.  Then the firing stopped and the Terminator appeared.

"Let's move," he said.  They entered into the General's office and John locked the door for whatever safety that could provide them.

"How do we shut down Skynet?" asked John.

"You can't, at least not like it has an on and off switch.  Besides, if this thing is as intelligent as you claim, then I don't think it could be shut down so easily," said Brewster.

"We don't need to worry about shutting it down just yet, we just need to make sure it can't gain access to the United States arsenal of nuclear warheads," said John.  Brewster's eyes went wide open.

"Oh no!" he said.

"What?" Kate demanded.

"Back in the control room, I had the choice of truly activating Skynet or not.  It was simple, yes or no.  But I didn't press the button," said Brewster.

"Shit!  That means that Skynet is only a hairbreadth away from ending the world!  We've got to hit no," said John.  He headed for the door when the Terminator held him back.

"That move is tactically dangerous.  There are more T-1's and H-K's roaming the building.  I will do it," said the Terminator.

"What do we do?  Just sit around and do nothing?" asked John.  The Terminator shook his head.

"No.  Use the C-4 you have and destroy this building," said the Terminator.

"But that'll destroy you…" said John.  The Terminator nodded.

"And the T-X thereby totally eradicating any trace of future technology and anything left of CRS technology," said the Terminator.

"But I can't loose you again," said John weakly.  The Terminator faced him.

"Based on my interactions with humans, I know that you never can truly let go of someone.  You will forever remember me and I will remember you for as long as my powercell is active.  Goodbye," said the Terminator and with that he left.  John began crying in silence.

"C'mon, he's doing his duty, now let's do ours," said Kate.  John nodded weakly.

"Hit the deck!" shouted Brewster.  The three of them dropped to the ground as a missile flew in through the outside window and exploded flinging debris everywhere.

"What was that?" asked Connor as he ran to the window and looked out at the carnage below.

"An H-K.  Let's go," said Brewster.  The group ran out into the hallway.

"Where do we plant the C-4?" Connor asked.

"Along the particle accelerator.  If we turn it on and then plant the C-4, the explosion should take out the building," said Brewster as they ran down the hallway.  Behind them, the flying H-K tracked them in silence waiting for its opportunity to strike.

Control Room: The Terminator walked into the room where several people lay dead and everything had been chewed up by bullets.  He wandered over to the control screen and was about to press N when he was suddenly flung upwards into the ceiling.  He hit it with a thud and fell back down.  From the floor where he had been standing, the T-X hauled herself out of the floor.  She too glanced over the computer screen and was about to press Y when the Terminator tackled her from behind.  They crashed through a window that shattered spraying glass everywhere.  They landed in the R&D area and began battling it out among the desks and conceptual drawings of other CRS concepts.  They punched and kicked at each other with each knowing that whoever won would determine the future of the planet and the future of Skynet.  The Terminator briefly wondered if it was ironic that two of Skynet's creations would be battling to determine its future, but he filed that away as he continued his battle with the T-X.  Chairs were thrown and tables uprooted as the two cyborgs began hammering on each other as each tried to defeat the other.

Elsewhere: General Brewster, Kate, and John had just arrived at the particle accelerator.

"Set up the C-4 along the pipe near all of the emergency exits while I power it up.  As soon as the C-4 is set, we'll take an emergency exit to the hanger and fly out of here," said Brewster.

"What then?" John asked.

"Assuming the bombs aren't being dropped, we'll try and make contact with the government and inform them of what Skynet has done.  Then we'll just see what happens," said Brewster.  Kate and John nodded and ran off to the accelerator as Brewster powered it up before proceeding after them.  As soon as he entered into the tube, the H-K appeared in the booth.  It glanced at a schematic of the tube and then zoomed off down a hallway.

R&D Labs: The Terminator was reeling from the damage it had sustained for the T-X.  His endoskeleton was showing in several places and sparks were flying from his right arm.  The T-X only had superficial damage.  The Terminator knew that it was loosing, but it's programming only allowed it to fight and not run.  As he searched for options to defend himself the H-K flew by down a hallway.  It then paused and fired a missile at the Terminator that barely managed to dodge it and it flew on its course and smashed into the T-X blowing it backwards through a wall, the H-K merely continued on with its path.  The Terminator knew this gave it a little bit of breathing room, but not much.  As it glanced at its surroundings, it saw a door that read: T-1 Storage Room.  This gave the Terminator an idea and it headed for the room.  Behind it, the T-X pulled itself out of the wall and saw the Terminator enter into the room.  The T-X then promptly pursued the Terminator and it entered into the bay to find itself staring down a pair of chainguns being held by the Terminator.

"You are history," he said simply.  He then pulled the trigger and hundreds of depleted uranium shells coursed out of the guns blasting large pieces of liquid metal skin off of the T-X.  Then the bullets hit her battle armor and although it could withstand a single bullet moving at a normal speed from a handgun, these bullets were moving at an incredible rate and their power began severally denting her armor.  Then some bullets pierced her armor and began tearing apart her inner circuits.  Several of her non-essential systems went offline, and then the chainguns ran dry and they died.  The Terminator tried to coax the guns to fire a few more rounds, but the refused.  The T-X then promptly smashed the Terminator backwards through the rear wall.  It then smashed back into the main control room.  Then its systems began shutting down one by one from the damage and the Terminator knew that it had only one chance to stop the T-X or else he would shutdown and his mission would have failed leaving the T-X to destroy John Connor and Katherine Brewster as well as have Skynet create Judgment Day.  It's plan of action became clear and it readied itself for the final course of action.

Pipe: "I must say Kate, your fiancé can really handle himself," said Brewster as he slapped another piece of C-4 to the accelerator.  Kate was about to say that he wasn't when she considered what the Terminator had said about them.  Then she considered what John had said about them going their separate ways.  She smiled quietly before slightly crying because of Scott's death.

"It's a long story," she said.

"One I look forward to hearing.  When all of this mess is taken care of," he said.  John meanwhile was having the same thoughts as he put some more C-4 on the accelerator cannon.

"_Forget it, she'd never go for a guy like me, she said so herself,_" he thought.  After he planted the C-4, he turned to look at the Brewster's.

"Looks like that's it.  Let's get out of here," he said.  The Brewsters nodded and they ran to the emergency exit.  However as they saw the ladder in sight, they heard a humming noise.  Then to their horror, the flying H-K descended down the hole and aimed its missile at the group and prepared to fire.

"_I've failed.  The future is going to die after all.  No fate my ass!_" he thought growling.  The H-K promptly fired a missile at the group.

Control Center: The T-X entered into the room to find the offline Terminator.  She picked it up like it was a twig and held up so she could view its face.  Then to her surprise the Terminator's eyes snapped open and immediately she found something shoved in her mouth.  Her scanners revealed it as the Terminator's hydrogen cell.  Before she could react, the Terminator picked her up and threw her down the same ventilation shaft she had been sent down earlier.

"And to all a good night," said the Terminator.  Then a large explosion went off in the vent and pieces of the T-X went flying everywhere.  The Terminator briefly smiled and then summoned up its remaining energy reserves and slowly made its way to the computer console.  He only hoped that John Connor and Katherine Brewster had completed their mission.

Pipe: The explosion caused the team to fall over onto the ground as the missile streaked over their heads and smashed against the side of the tunnel.  The H-K righted itself and prepared to fire another missile at the group and this time it would not miss.  But just as it prepared to fire, it found itself plastered to the particle accelerator.  It strained its engines, but it couldn't dislodge itself, much less fire it's missiles.

"What the?" asked John looking up.  Brewster helped him up and pushed him and Kate towards the emergency exit.

"The accelerator generates a magnetic field.  Now let's get out of here before that thing explodes," said Brewster.  They climbed up the ladder and barely exited out the top when the H-K exploded sending a fireball up the exit shaft.  They emerged into the hanger, which was thankfully devoid of robot life.

"We'll take my plane," said Brewster.  They ran to the civilian aircraft and it taxied out onto the crater marked runway.

"Where're we going?" asked John as he strapped himself in.

"Crystal Peak," he said solemnly.

"Why?" Kate asked.  Brewster adjusted some knobs on the plane.

"Because I'm not going to take any chances.  If Skynet gains control over the nukes, then we need to find a fallout shelter and there's one at Crystal Peak," said Brewster.

"The Terminator will succeed," said John.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up.  If Skynet built that thing do you really believe it'll hinder its own creator?  I don't think so and I'm not going to take that chance.  We'll hide until we know it's clear and then we'll contact the government and warn them about what Skynet has done," said Brewster.  John sat back in his chair with a huff as he didn't know what to think anymore.

Control Room: The Terminator slowly made his way to the computer console.  All of his energy was devoted to pressing that button.  Finally he reached the keyboard and with his last bit of energy he pressed the 'N' button on the keyboard thus denying Skynet's revenge on humanity for now.

"Aaaannnnd ttttoooo aaallll aaaa ggggoooodddd nnnniiiiigggghhtttt," the Terminator managed to slur with its remaining power.  Then its mouth formed a smile and it shut down right before the C-4 blew up the entire complex taking the robots and most of Skynet's AI with it.  In the plane, John watched the explosion in the distance with a smile.

We flew onwards towards Crystal Peak just in case Skynet had gained control over some nuclear missile sites, but I knew in my heart that Skynet was on its way to erasure and that we'd stopped Judgment Day.  After three days of hiding we emerged to see a brilliant sun greeting us.  We took the plane and flew back to Los Angeles where we contacted the government.  A few days later we met with them and I told them everything, from the Terminators coming back to the Judgment Day and the war that followed.  It felt like a gigantic burden off my chest telling someone who was in charge my story.  There was a brief period of arguing about the whole Skynet project but eventually it was decided that any future development of AI technology was 'unsafe'.  The president, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Congress all decided to collect what remained of Skynet at Edwards Air Force base and keep it locked up in a secure area never to be touched again.  The remains also included that of the two Terminators were damaged beyond use.  Still though, at my insistence the government took out their computer processors and kept them well apart from their respective bodies.  There was still the matter of the virus, but that was easily taken care of, not the virus, but the plan to eliminate it.  Due to my expertise and knowledge of computers, General Brewster personally recommended me.  Joining up with some hackers I met online we began combating Skynet and expunging it one computer at a time.  During the process Kate and I became closer than ever because we each shared a unique experience with the Terminators.  We were married on August 29th, 2013 and our daughter, Samantha, was born that very next year.  Skynet was finally erased  in 2015 and I finally truly acknowledged that Skynet was gone forever and that I could finally live my life without fear.  But I was wrong, even beyond death, Skynet in its dying alternate future would engage in a last ditch effort to eliminate me and like they did three times before the Resistance sent their final savior to help me.

2034: Two flying Hunterkillers raced overhead, firing as the war continued raging on in the future.  Several humans opened fire on the HK's as the continued hammering the resistance forces.  Back at a recon post, John Connor watched the war raging on.

"C'mon we've got to get there before it's too late.  Squad B-12, flank right and attack the cannons.  Vehicular unit A-6, get ready to fire," said John.  A pair of captured Terminators ran across the destroyed landscape drawing fire from the two HK's as a truck zoomed out of a damaged building and fired a pair of missiles at the two HK's.  The missiles struck with deadly accuracy and the HK's crashed to the ground.

"Alright press the advantage.  We need to get to that building and I mean now," said John into the radio.

"Sir I don't understand?  Why are we advancing towards the building?  I thought you said that time was being altered and soon it would rewrite history so the war wouldn't occur.  Why aren't we kicking back and enjoying the last moments of the war?" asked John's second in command Barry.

"Because if we don't reach that building than the war isn't over, it's only beginning.  Inside that building there's not a time warp, but a dimensional one.  Skynet is going to send a Terminator through it and it will rebuild Skynet in that alternate future where I won't be able to stop it and Skynet truly will conquer mankind.  We either must stop it or send someone else through to stop that Terminator.  We cannot fail," said John.  A scout ran up to John.

"Sir, it's started.  The temporal storm has just arrived and its rewriting history," said the scout.  John looked through his binoculars at the tornados landing everywhere and erasing history.

"Damnit it's early!  Screw going slow but steady, we're moving now!" shouted John.  He grabbed a laser rifle and ran out into the battlefield along with dozens of soldiers who were advancing across the battlefield towards the building in the distance.  But before they could get there, several Terminators and flying and ground based HK's blocked their paths.

"It won't matter if we die now, history's changing anyway, but we must reach that building.  Let's go!" shouted John.  Everyone roared in agreement as they charged the robots and both sides erupted with laser fire.

"Keep moving forward!" shouted John.  The ranks continued advancing forward as the HK's and Terminators returned fire.  But something was wrong because they kept missing most of the resistance fighters.

"Something's not right here," said John firing at the Terminator's who fell over.

"Who cares?  We've got to get through," said Barry.  Behind them the storm kept raging, rewriting history.  Eventually the resistance fighters made it into the building and arrived in front of the device, which was on.

"We're too late, Skynet's representative already made it through.  T-950, you're mission awaits you," said John.

"Alright I'm moving," said the T-950.

"The future lies on you.  Stop that Terminator and Skynet's rebirth.  Try and contact myself if possible.  Once you're done, you know what to do," said John.

"I understand," said the T-950 simply.  With that, he leapt through the portal, but as he did a lightning bolt arced in through the damaged roof and hit the portal before it could close.

"I hope he made it," said John as the temporal twisters hit the building, erasing the war forever.

Midnight, August 29th, 1997: Where Cyberdyne had been there was now a parking lot: Electricity crackled in the night as a giant orb appeared and then vanished leaving a naked individual behind.  The individual stood up and looked at the parking lot.

"From the ashes of the past, I will destroy restore Skynet and eliminate John Connor," said the being, walking off into the night.

Midnight, July 4, 2032, Los Angeles: Where Cyberdyne had been there was now a park for children.  Electricity crackled in the night as a giant orb appeared and then vanished leaving a fully clothed individual behind.  The T-950 first observed some energy crackling around it and slightly smoldering its skin, but this was of no relevance so the T-950 looked around at its surroundings and began judging the time period it had entered.  The Terminator sniffed in the air to sample the pollution in the atmosphere.  According to its predicting detectors, it had arrived sometime near the turn of the first third of the century.  This was good enough for the Terminator, but then it's sensors detected the sawed off shotgun and laser gun from the future as well as it's resistance outfit.  The Terminator was unaware as to how it's clothes and guns could have come through the portal with it, but the Terminator reasoned that no one had gone through a time warp that spanned the dimensions so this must have been side effect.  However the Terminator knew that in its apparel that was foreign to this reality he would easily stick out like a sore thumb.  It noticed two homeless people nearby and it advanced steadily towards them.  As it received more information it re-evaluated its earlier assumption that the humans were homeless, this knowledge was in error, they were drug users that may or may not have been homeless.  All of this was irrelevant to the Terminator as it did not care about these individuals, it only cared about its missions.  The drug users looked up at the individual.

"Smoke?" asked one of them clearly no longer in a correct frame of mind.  As the Terminator opened its mouth to request the person's clothes, the human passed out.  The Terminator glanced it over and then picked up what the person had been smoking.  It sniffed the item and its HUD registered it as marijuana, a joint as the humans referred to it.  The Terminator set it back down on the ground and stepped on it with its foot.

"Hey man, don't do that.  That's some good shit," said one of them.  The Terminator looked at the human quizzically.  It then decided that the person's comments did not need to elicit a response so it moved to take off the figure's clothes.  One of his companions stood up and pulled out a concealed knife.

"Can't let you do that," said the man.  The Terminator looked at the person.

"And I can't let you stop me," said the Terminator.  The Terminator stared at the human and then went back to taking off the unconscious one's clothes.  The other human debated what to do and then decided it couldn't let this person took his friends clothes.  He moved his knife silently towards the man's back when he found his face pressing up against a silver gun barrel.

"I warned you not to stop me," said the Terminator.  Across the street a stray cat wandered around searching for a meal when it noticed a flash of light in an alleyway.  It looked at the disturbance confused when it saw a human emerge and walk off down the street and got inside an old Pontiac Firebird.  The cat wandered off as the car came to a start and zoomed off down the street.  The cat wandered into the park and curled up to sleep in the small crater in the ground without giving the human a second thought.  The Terminator meanwhile cruised down the street as it moved forth to accomplish its mission.

Cybernet(formerly CRS which was formerly Cyberdyne Systems): Although intelligent AI had been banned from ever being researched, the creation of military weaponry had not and it was that which allowed what remained of CRS to thrive.  In his high level office, President and CEO John Brown was perhaps the last one in the building with the exception of some janitors cleaning up the regular offices down below.  He had come in after receiving a warning from his computer system should a certain event occur.  As he activated the scanners in his office, it confirmed what he had been told, a temporal anomaly had occurred.

"_It's about damn time.  I've waited long enough for you to show up for the past thirty odd years and finally I'm within stepping distance of recreating Skynet.  It's time I activated the Taldeveras,_" he thought.  John activated his scrambler phone and typed in a phone number.

"Talbot," came the response.

"It is time," he said.  And with that he hung up and walked to the window.  He rubbed his weary eyes and face and looked out at the city of Los Angeles.  He then imagined it after its master, Skynet, returned to fulfill its destiny of creating world peace by annihilating mankind.  John smiled and left his office.

"_Everything is going as planned,_" he thought with a grin on his face as he exited the building and drove off in his BMW.  He drove down a street and watched as a Pontiac Firebird came down the street going the other way.  He looked at the driver as the driver looked back as the moment seemed to freeze in time.  Then the moment broke and the cars headed off in their opposite directions.


	2. Enter Samantha Connor

Anguirus111 Note: The T-950 does not look in any way like Arnold.  Who it does look like will be answered in a later chapter.  This story gets stupid at times.  Kids, don't read this, read some PG Terminator story.  Go Arnold and become governor of California, at least you can't do any worse.  I know nothing of the LA area so all the buildings and locations are lies(at least I hope so).

John Connor Residence: John woke up still sleepy and made his way into the kitchen.  Already Samantha and Kate were awake and eating breakfast.

"Why up so early?" he asked groggily sitting down for a bowl of cereal.  Kate came over and sat down beside him.

"I have a meeting with some of the top veterinary heads in the business and we're all going to discuss and share information about pet treatment.  Samantha's just going out around the town with her friends," said Kate.  John nodded remembering this from yesterday and sat down to eat his cereal.  Kate's watch beeped and she looked at it.

"Well, I've got to go.  Bye hon," she said.  Leaving she gave John and quick kiss and was then out the door and gone leaving John and Samantha alone in silence.  They hadn't had the best relationship John knew that, but they still held some love for each other.  John opened his mouth to say something when Samantha got up.

"I've got to go, my friends are coming soon," she said.  She left the room and John sighed.  Samantha was going off to college in a few months and he still hoped he could salvage their relationship despite the odds.

"_Only a miracle could save it,_" he thought eating more cereal.  He picked up a newspaper and saw a small article about how a drug addict was shot and killed.  He ignored it because it was a common occurrence and he moved on to read the technology page.

Los Angeles Library: The Terminator pulled up and parked in a parking spot outside the library.  He had already taken the liberty of replacing the plates on the car so it wouldn't come up stolen and had already fashioned a pair of keys so it would look even less suspicious if pulled over by the cops.  The Terminator entered into the facility and immediately walked towards the computers.  It activated one and glanced at the other humans to determine a proper way to retrieve information.  It had something to do with the 'Internet' so the Terminator logged on and immediately began searching through dozens of sites at the blink of an eye to locate the Connor family.  It pulled up pictures of the three Connor members to determine they were still alive and stored them in its files and then located the Connor residence.  It was closing up the files when a human female stood next to him.

"Beautiful day out," she observed.  The Terminator looked outside as per its programmed response and then continued closing files.

"Perhaps," said the Terminator simply.  It finished the files.

"Perhaps?  Look at it, the sun is shining there's not a cloud in the sky, it's beautiful," said the human.  The Terminator filed this knowledge away for future analysis.  The Terminator then headed towards the exit.

"I'm Amanda Silberman," she said.  The Terminator stopped in its tracks.  It turned around.

"Are you related to Dr. Leo Silberman?" it asked.  Amanda nodded.

"My grandfather, why?" she asked.  The Terminator cocked its head and then left.  Dr. Silberman was in its files as someone to stay away from and the Terminator assumed that related to his descendants as well.  But this was all moot as the Terminator had all the information it needed so it left leaving Amanda with a quizzical look on her face.

"_You know of my grandfather somehow and I intend to find out why_," she finally decided.  The Terminator then got back into the Firebird and drove off to the Connor residence.

Connor Residence: John had showered and had gotten dressed when he received a call.

"Connor," he said.

"Hey Connor, it's Steve.  Look, we've finally gotten some leeway with these hackers that have been attacking the CIA and we know it's your day off but," said Steve.  John laughed.

"You want me to come in to see if we can catch these guys in the act.  Well it appears that I don't have any plans so sure I'll come in.  See you soon," said John.  He turned off the phone and after doing a couple of things he headed for the garage and into his new black BMW convertible.  His job as head for the anti-hacking section of the government paid extraordinarily well as hacks had increased in the past few years and this car was a 'bonus' he had been given for cracking some hackers who had been falsifying some records on the Stock Exchange to plunge the market into chaos.  John opened the garage and zoomed away.  As he pulled around the corner and drove off, the Terminator arrived at the Connor residence.  He parked on the street and then advanced towards the door.  He rang the doorbell a few times and when no one responded he flicked on his infrared and it determined that no one was home.  He walked to the garage and scanned the insides.  He picked up the faint radio emissions from the garage door opener and after broadcasting hundreds of different signals, the garage door opener came to life and opened up.  The Terminator stepped inside and closed the garage door behind him.  He looked around the garage and saw a couple more cars and a couple of motorcycles.  But to the Terminator's confusion it saw one heavily damaged Toyota Tundra with a large apparatus on the bed which Emery Animal Hospital and the license plate PET DOC 2.  The Terminator was confused as to the purpose of the vehicle but didn't dwell on the subject and moved on.  It ventured to the door leading to the house and it tested the door.  It was locked.  A portion of the Terminator's skin on its arm slid aside and a metal tube emerged.  The tube then extended forward and a smaller tube emerged and entered into the lock.  A second a later a click was heard.  The Terminator opened the door and stepped inside with its weapons at the ready.  It was in the kitchen area and in the back was the living room.  The Terminator glanced around the room looking for some indications as to where they went.  After a few minutes of searching it gave up with no evidence as to where they had vanished.  The Terminator was leaving the house to the garage when the phone started ringing.  The Terminator stepped back into the house and crossed his arms as the message recorder came to life.

"Hi Dad.  Sorry about this morning, it's just…I don't know.  I suppose you're at work.  Anyway I'm at the Centurian Mall in case you were wondering.  If you need to reach me you know my cell number.  Bye," said Samantha.  The Terminator quickly pulled up a map of the LA area on his HUD.  The mall was instantly highlighted and its location was shown in location to the house.  The Terminator exited the house and locked the door.  It went through the garage and exited it to the Firebird.  The Terminator then peeled out and headed down the street towards the mall.

A black van a couple blocks away: Talbot and his men were listening to the exact same message after having tapped into the phone line.

"Okay men you know our mission.  Kill all members of the Connor family and then we get paid the rest of our money.  Let's go," said Talbot.  Talbot climbed into the drivers seat and turned it on.  As he began to enter the street, he barely avoided hitting a Firebird traveling down the street as speeds in excess of the speed limit.  Talbot muttered an obscenity under his breath as the Firebird zoomed around a corner and off out of sight.  Talbot then entered into the street and towards the Mall.

Government anti-hacking agency branch of Los Angeles: John entered into the building and towards the main room full of advanced computers and hackers.  John sat in his chair in front of one of the more advanced computers.

"Okay Steve, what've we got?" asked John.  Steve gave him the complete rundown of the past 24 hours.

"Basically someone has attempting to hack into every military installation for the past 30 some years, and only now in the past twenty four hours they've stepped up their hacking attempts and are actually succeeding," said Steve.  John whistled.

"Damn.  And I designed those firewalls myself.  What are they trying to get into?" asked John.  Steve shrugged.

"What _aren't _they trying to get into more like it?  They've been trying to gain access to everything from information to communications to mothballed projects," said Steve.  John popped his head up.

"What mothball projects?" he asked.  Steve clicked some commands on a nearby keyboard.

"Basically anything related to what CRS was doing with Edwards Air Force Base.  And some hacking into a company called Cyberdyne," said Steve.  John had to force himself not to jump up.

"_It's probably nothing,_" he forced himself to believe.  Steve kept talking.

"But that's not the strangest part, today the hacker slipped up and we got a look at the hacker's origin," said Steve.  John smiled.

"_Well soon it will be all over,_" he thought.

"It's Skynet," said Steve.  John's eyes widened immensely.

Mall: Samantha's friends had just left because they all had prior arrangement that they couldn't get out of.  She sighed and leaned on the railing on the mall's upper balcony.  Below, The Terminator stepped into the mall's center and walked around looking for Samantha.  Across the mall, Talbot and his mercenaries did the same.  The Terminator walked towards a large gathering of people in odd costumes as he continued his search.  He was walking through them when one in a gold shirt and black pants walked up to him.

"Hi!  I'm Captain Kirk, who're you?" he asked.  The Terminator turned to look at him.

"I'm a Terminator, CRS model 111," said the Terminator looking around.  The person nodded.

"Oh.  What show or movie are you from?" the person asked.  The Terminator looked at him confused, or at least as confused as a Terminator could appear

"Movie, show?" he asked.  The Terminator turned his head and noticed a sign that read: Sci-Fi Convention!  The Terminator didn't have the slightest idea what Sci-Fi was so it continued looking around.

"Yeah, my character is from Star Trek, what about you.  I must confess I've never heard of a Terminator before," said the man.  The Terminator finally completed its scans of the convention and couldn't find Samantha anywhere.

"I'm not from a movie," said the Terminator moving on.  The man looked concerned and raced after him.

"Ummm, you can distinguish the difference between reality and fiction right?  Who are you, why are you here?" asked the man.  The Terminator didn't understand the man's apprehension but chose to answer the question to put him at ease.

"I'm a T-950 Terminator.  I was sent through time from an alternate dimension to protect the Connor family from destruction by Skynet's representative to this time.  If I do not destroy Skynet's representative, Skynet will be reborn and they will attempt to recreate Judgment Day thereby wiping out most if not all of the human race," said the Terminator continuing to walk on.  The man blocked his path.

"Okay mister, I think I need to convince you the difference between reality and fiction.  You're not a Terminator and you seriously need help," said the man.  The Terminator realized the man wasn't going to help him and his programming didn't necessitate killing the man in public so it merely put his hand up and squeezed a nerve on the man's right shoulder knocking him unconscious.  The Terminator prepared for a reaction from witnesses but all he got was a cryptic reply from a man with weird ears and a blue uniform on.

"Sweet dude!  Vulcan Neck Pinch!" said the man before walking off.  The Terminator let it go at that and walked up to the top level.

Talbot's Team: The team had also conducted their own scans and determined that Samantha was not on the first floor either.

"Let's move team, second floor!" said Talbot.  They walked towards an Elevator as another man in black pants with a black shirt and a leather jacket walked in with them.  They watched as the elevator door closed and it rose up to the second floor.  The Terminator decided that to not attempt conversation might cue it off as not being human.

"How's it going?" asked the Terminator as it selected its response from dozens of choices.

"Shut up," said a man.  The Terminator turned to face them and it was about to say something when its HUD located weapons located underneath portions of their clothes.  The Terminator was unclear as to what to do next.

"Why the weapons?" it asked bluntly.  If these people were planning to harm humans it would have to stop them.  The humans looked nervous and surprised that the Terminator knew they had weapons.  One looked like he was going to go for his but another man stopped him, evidently the leader of the bunch.

"We work for the FBI and we've received word that a dangerous criminal might be in this mall.  We're going to apprehend him, but if things turn deadly then we must take him out," said the man.  It was obvious to the Terminator that the human was lying, but it chose to accept that answer like any human would.

"Okay then," said the Terminator.  The elevator doors opened and they walked out, each in other directions.  The Terminator quickly walked into a bathroom and began loading some more shells into his shotgun that he carried concealed in his coat thanks to strips of cloth he'd sewed into the jacket earlier.  After loading some cartridges, the Terminator cocked the gun and put it back in his jacket.  He then exited the bathroom and out into walkway.  He wandered around still looking for Samantha while Talbot and his team did the same.  Samantha meanwhile was totally oblivious to what was going on and was in a movie store looking at videos.  She glanced at a particular B-Movie title that came across.

"Killer Robots from the Future," she said reading the title before moving on to the description. "Watch as robots come from the future and kill humans who will day rise up against them.  Oh this sounds promising, dad'll love it."  Samantha moved to the counter and she purchased the video.  She only wanted to annoy her father, not piss him off, besides, this might help their relationship somewhat since it was worth a laugh because her father used to talk about robots from the future on occasion.  She walked out and once again looked down at the convention below.  Then suddenly her concentration was broken as someone screamed.  Samantha turned to see a group of men walking towards her pull out various assault weapons and point them at her.  Her fear seemed to cause time to slow down as the men prepared to fire.  Behind her she heard a sound she couldn't quite concentrate on when three bullets flew past her head and slammed into the closest man who had been holding a gun at her.  The other men leapt to the ground and out of the way.  One of them forgot where they were and he flew over the balcony and smashed into the middle of the convention down below.  Samantha slowly spun around as she saw another man in black that had a rifle pointed almost straight at her.

"_What is going on here?_" she thought in a daze.  Instantly her world began spinning when the man with the rifle grabbed her and smashed through the nearby glass window back into the videostore.  The man pushed continued forcing her towards the back of the store as bullets zoomed in towards them from the outside and chewed up everything around them and killed the cashier who Samantha had just purchased the video from.  The man smashed a door open in the back and forced Samantha through.  The man then fired several more bullets into the store before forcing Samantha to walk with him.  She finally came to her senses and pulled herself free.

"What the fuck is going on?" she demanded.  The man looked at her and began loading more bullets into the rifle.  Samantha, acting purely on adrenalin, slapped it away from him.

"I demand an explanation!" she said.  The man looked at her before bending down to pick up the rifle.

"My mission is to protect you," said the man.  Samantha looked at him like he was crazy.

"Mission?  What mission?  Who the hell sent you?" she demanded.

"Your father," said the Terminator.  Samantha laughed.

"Like he would care about my safety," she said.

"He does," said the man.  Samantha leaned against a brick wall in the passageway they were in.

"And why do you think that?" she asked laughing.

"Because he cared enough to reprogram me to protect himself, his wife, and his children if they existed," said the man.  Samantha looked at him.

"What do you mean reprogrammed?" she asked.  It was only then that she noticed several bullets in the man's chest and some blood coating his wounds but somehow he didn't seem fazed by this.

"I'm a Terminator," said the man without any hint of lying.  Samantha laughed.

"Bullshit!  The Terminators don't exist, that's just something my father made up to scare me to bed at night.  They don't exist," said Samantha.  The Terminator looked at her when suddenly sparks began erupting from a wound on his arm.  He looked at it.

"Do you happen to have a bobby pin?" he asked as his fingers on his left arm began twitching involuntarily.

"Why?" Samantha asked.  The Terminator held up his arm.

"I'm slightly damaged and I lack the proper tools to repair myself at the moment.  Yes or no, do you have a bobby pin?" asked the Terminator.  Samantha rummaged through her purse and handed him one.  The Terminator jammed into his wound and twisted it abruptly causing his fingers to stop twitching.  After moving them to make sure they worked he handed the pin to Samantha who flung it away in disgust.  The Terminator glanced behind them.

"We have to leave.  Now!" said the Terminator.  He began dragging Samantha down the hallway with her beginning to believe this was a bad dream.  More bullets erupted down the passageway as the Terminator and Samantha rounded a corner headed towards the parking garage.  The Terminator pressed a button on his watch and down in the garage the Firebird roared to life.

Back in the video store:  Talbot was slightly shocked to discover that already two members of his team were dead in a matter of moments.

"_Hazards of the job.  Oh well, that means more for us,_" he thought with a slight smile.

"I can't believe that guy in the elevator is the same guy who's saving the girl," said Jake who walked back in from the passageway.

"Yeah well life's unpredictable.  Where do you think they went?" Talbot asked.

"According to some signs, the passageway heads for the lot," said Jake.  Talbot pulled out an Uzi.

"Let's go get paid boys.  And tell Team 2 to still strike at the mother," said Talbot.  Jake nodded and spoke into the radio as the team moved towards the garage.

Passageway: The Terminator picked up the radio signal and heard its message.  Although the Terminator wanted to save Katherine Connor, it had no choice but to deal with the matter at hand.

"You're not a Terminator, you can't be," said Samantha less sure than she had been a few minutes earlier.  The Terminator had given up responding to her statements and continued leading her to the parking lot.  He pushed his way through another door and they appeared in the lot.

"Get in the car," he said.  Samantha looked around confused when a Firebird pulled up next to them with no driver.

"How did?" she asked weakly.

"I brought it here by remote," said Terminator cutting her off.  She got in the passenger seat and the Terminator got in the drivers seat and took off.  They zoomed down the parking garage at incredible speeds as they rushed to get out.

"Behind the seats there's a massive silver gun, take it out," said the Terminator.  Samantha weakly complied and pulled out the massive gun.

"What's this?" she asked.  The Firebird skidded around a corner giving the sound of burning rubber.

"It's a laser gun from the future.  On the trigger mechanism there are three buttons, green, yellow, and red.  Hit the red button," said the Terminator.  Samantha hit it and the gun began beeping and lights began blinking.

"What's it doing?" she asked.

"Charging.  You set it for maximum yield so it takes longer to charge than a normal shot," said the Terminator.  Samantha looked at him, mild despair in her eyes.

"You really are from the future aren't you?  My father was right Terminators did try to kill him," she said.  The Firebird skidded down another ramp.

"'Fraid so," said the Terminator.  The car zoomed towards the exit when Talbot and his men raced in front of the car.

"Get down!" shouted the Terminator pushing the accelerator.  Samantha got below the dash as bullets ripped through the front of the car.  Then the mercenaries leapt out of the way as the car zoomed past them.  It ripped through the tollbooths and out onto the street.  The Terminator stopped the car and fired the laser gun after it finished charging.  The resulting explosion took out a massive chunk of the parking garage entrance/exit as the Terminator zoomed off down the road darting in and out of traffic.

Back in the garage: Talbot picked his body up off the ground as he had been flung back by the force of the explosion.  Around him, his team also got up, but three didn't and it was quite obvious that they were dead.

"What the hell was that thing?" asked Jake coughing up smoke.  He and Talbot looked at the massive chunk gone from the parking garage.  In the distance sirens could be heard.

"Probably an RPG.  We're done underestimating our enemy.  Clearly he was prepared for us.  Now let's go take him out and complete our job.  Let's move people," shouted Talbot.  The team ran out of the destroyed parking garage and to their van.  They then peeled out and away as cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks arrived at the scene of the explosion.

Government Building: "It **cannot** be Skynet, we eradicated the last vestige of that virus years ago and it hasn't shown up since," said John.  Steve shrugged.

"Nevertheless here it is.  I suppose it could be possible that it hid in some computer system just prior to us finishing off what we thought was left of it.  Now it's back and it wants control of the nation's nukes," said Steve.  John was suddenly up and pacing back and forth.

"Get everyone here now!  We can't let Skynet gain control of those nukes!" shouted John.  Steve was unsure as to why John was so uptight about Skynet but he shrugged.

"I'll do my best but I can't promise much.  Several members are on vacation and many have retired.  And even if we do get them back, there hasn't been any major virus in several years and we've grown a bit rusty," said Steve.

"Then we've got to brush up on our anti-hacking skills.  Move!  You guys over there, turn that off, we've got a job to do," said John.  The members of the team who were watching TV looked at John and shrugged.  They turned off the TV just as the reporter was about to tell of the explosion and gunfire at the mall.

Streets: The Firebird zoomed down several more streets before its engine began pouring steam.  The Terminator pulled the car over onto the side of the street as the car shutdown.  The Terminator opened the hood as more steam billowed out.  Samantha got out and watched the Terminator glance over the engine.

"You shouldn't have driven the car so hard, you overheated the engine," said Samantha.  The Terminator looked up at her.

"Negative, the vehicle was already damaged," it said continuing to check the engine.

"So what now?  Clearly those guys are going to come after us and we don't have any other mode of transportation," said Samantha crossing her arms.  The Terminator closed the hood of the car.

"I know that, and in fact I'm counting on it," said the Terminator.  Samantha looked confused as the Terminator pressed a button on his watch and a small device came out of the watch.

"I was hoping to save this, but now we have no choice," said the Terminator.  He set the device in the car and dragged Samantha off into a nearby alley.

A few minutes later: "There they are!" shouted Jake.  Talbot looked down the street and there was the Thunderbird parked on the side of the street.

"Way to go Jake, your little tracking device actually worked," said Talbot.

"Yeah well, as long as we got our money I'm happy," said Jake beaming with pride.  The van stopped a few feet away where Jake and Samantha were in the car seeming like they were discussing something or other.  Talbot pulled open the side door on the van and the team leapt out and opened fire on the car.  Several bullets went through the car, but somehow Jake and Samantha seemed to have not been hit and even more incredulously ignored the whole event.

"Did we miss?" asked Talbot.

"It isn't possible," said Jake.  They walked to the car.  As they advanced towards it, the driver was listening to the radio so intently that he was totally unprepared for the van door opening and him being thrown out, the driver hit the curb so hard he was knocked unconscious.

"Get in, we haven't much time," said The Terminator.  Samantha crawled in through the driver's side door and into the back while the Terminator climbed into the driver's seat and looked around at the back of the van.

"Close the door," he said pointing to the large open side door of the van.  Outside, Talbot and the three remaining members of his team were looking at the Firebird.

"No way! Are you crazy they'll shoot me!" said Samantha.

"They will in a few moments if you don't close that door," said the Terminator.  Samantha seemed to shrink at wanting to close the door.

"I'm scared," she said, not wanting it to be revealed she wasn't as tough as nails as she wanted others to believe.

"You either close that door and we live to get out of here or you don't and we both perish," said the Terminator.  Samantha looked up at him.

"Bullshit, you can't die," she said a little bit angrily.  The Terminator looked at her through the rearview mirror.

"I'm a Terminator with a battle hardened chasis, but I can be destroyed just like everything else on this planet," said the Terminator.  By the time he finished this Samantha had closed the door.

"Thank you," said the Terminator.

"Don't mention it," said Samantha sitting curled up in the back deep in her own thoughts about the day's events.

Car: "It's a hologram.  Damned good one if I do say so myself," said Jake.  He picked up the miniature hologram imager and looked it over.

"Man this thing is small.  This technology is only in the experimental stage I believe, but here it is right before my eyes.  Our friend is well equipped, very well equipped," said Jake looking over the imager.  Talbot hefted his AK-47 and looked both ways down the street.

"Then where's our," he began when he heard the door to the van slam shut.

"Shit the van!" he shouted.  The team turned around and opened fire on the van only to have it deflect all their shots due to its built in armor.  Then the van slammed forward and drove off in a cloud of burning rubber.  Talbot and his team ran after it for a few steps and then stopped realizing it was hopeless.

"Now what?" Jake asked.

"Call the police?" someone suggested.  Talbot and his team turned to face that member.

"Just one problem, how are we going to explain the fact that the van is loaded with weapons?  We can't.  We just have to hope Team 2 finished their mission and then they'll come and collect us.  In the meantime, let's get back to the base and contact our benefactor, he needs to be informed that he'll need to double our pay for this job.  Let's go," said Talbot.  Jake pocketed the device and they were walking away from the Firebird when it exploded flinging shrapnel everywhere and onto the team as they were flung forward by the blast.

Van: The Terminator had a silver rod in its right hand with a few blinking lights on it.  Its right thumb was pressed on the top and several lights were blinking on the sides.  Then the lights blinked out and the device became inert.

"What was that?" asked Samantha who was in the passenger seat next to the Terminator.

"The end to our current problems," said the Terminator.  It flung the device into the back of the van and it clattered to a rest among the other equipment and weapons in the back.

"So what now?" asked Samantha.  The Terminator sped through its files and recalled the communiqué about the order to terminate Katherine Connor.

"Where is your mother?" asked the Terminator.

"Why?" Samantha asked slightly afraid.

"She is scheduled for termination and I need to stop that from happening," said the Terminator.  Samantha's eyes widened.

"S-she's at a veterinary meeting at the Simon-Culver's building downtown," Samantha said.  The Terminator sped onto the highway and floored the gas.

"What're you going to do?" asked Samantha.  The Terminator looked at her.

"My mission, protect the Connor family and ensure the survival of the human race, by any means necessary," said the Terminator.

"So if Skynet were to come back?" asked Samantha.

"Ensure the survival of the human race even if Skynet returns and to do that the Conor's must live," said the Terminator.

"Then please hurry," said Samantha.  And with that the Terminator floored the accelerator and the van zoomed forward down the freeway and into Los Angeles.


	3. Enter Katherine Brewster Connor

Anguirus111 Note: I know nothing about LA so all the buildings I mention are either completely made up or are the result of a very lucky guess.  This is what the Terminator's main pair of guns look like: .  **** indicate a change in perspective.

LA Freeway: The van roared down the freeway on its way to the Katherine Brewster's location in the high rise building Simon-Culver. 

"So what's it like?" asked Samantha having finally decided to talk to the Terminator after having brooded in the back for several minutes.  The Terminator raised an eyebrow at her as it continued driving.

"What is what like?" it asked.  Samantha shifted her position so she curled her legs underneath her and faced the Terminator.

"You know, the future.  What's it really like?" she asked.  The Terminator pulled onto another freeway.

"It isn't," said the Terminator simply.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Samantha confused.

"My future no longer exists.  The future where the machines rule the planet is over, John Connor, Katherine Brewster, and the T-850 ensured that.  I can no longer tell you what the future is like," it said.  Samantha slumped down in her chair angry at this hunk of metal for not answering her question.  She finally sat up a few moments later.

"What was it like?" she asked.  The Terminator quietly scanned its surroundings.

"This freeway is heavily damaged and indeed this section doesn't even exist.  All of those buildings are completely damaged or destroyed.  Everywhere there are skeletons of those who died on Judgment Day, some in their heavily damaged cars.  To walk without stepping on a skeleton would be a near impossibility.  Due to the amount of radioactivity in the atmosphere, daylight only appears on average of once a month.  Also, there are continuous patrols of HK's and Terminators at all times and it's rare that you go a week without a confrontation between the machines and the humans," said the terminator.  Samantha looked at him speechless.

"You asked for the truth, I gave it to you," said the Terminator shrugging.  Samantha sighed.

"I still can't believe everything my father told me about the war was true.  I could've sworn it was bullshit," said Samantha.

"Technically it is," said the Terminator.

"You know what I mean," Samantha said with a sharp laugh.  The Terminator shrugged again.

"Are you doing that by choice or programming?" she asked.

"There is no difference," said the Terminator driving on.  Samantha shifted in her seat again, her interest piqued.

"You mean you don't have free will?" she asked.

"I operate within the confines of my programming.  In a sense I do have a choice, but again it is limited due to my programming.  I could be allowed to be reprogrammed to learn and adapt, but to do that would require presetting my switch that allows me to do that and I can't let that happen.  My CPU cannot be removed from this body," said the Terminator.

"Why not?" Samantha asked.  The Terminator twisted its head to look at her.

"I'm too dangerous," said the Terminator before returning its head to the road.

"I don't understand," said Samantha.  The Terminator pulled onto a city street.

"If my CPU were to be compromised and it's files were accessed it would signal the end of your civilization," said the Terminator reluctant to say any more.

"Go on," said Samantha.  The Terminator gave the equivalent of a sigh.

"In my CPU are extremely detailed schematics of every Terminator, HK, and Computer subroutine that created Skynet.  I also contain a sleeper virus that when my CPU is ever accessed it would escape.  This Sleeper Virus is designed to recreate the Skynet AI program and allow it to start over.  But this Skynet would be fully aware of the war between humans and machine and would have the necessary skills to defeat them.  Humans would be at a disadvantage against the machines because they would already be one war ahead of them in terms of tactics and machinery," said the Terminator.

"My…God," said Samantha in shock.

"That is why my CPU must never be accessed.  If any of the screws are removed around my CPU opening I would automatically self-destruct to ensure that no information from the war would fall into human hands," said the Terminator turning onto another street.  Samantha was still in shock over what had been said.

"I am what I am.  I terminate therefore I am," said the Terminator.  Samantha just shook her head.

"So what about this other Terminator we're facing, what do you know about it?" she asked.

"Nothing.  I don't even know if a Terminator exists in this time frame at all," said the Terminator.

"Then why are you here?" asked Samantha.  The Terminator approximated a smile.

"I'm what you call an added insurance policy," it said.  The Terminator then pulled into an alley near the Simon-Culver's building.

"I'm going it alone from here," said the Terminator.  It reached into its coat pockets and pulled out a pair of heavily modified Colt Revolvers.  It cracked them open to make sure they were loaded and with a jerk of the wrist snapped them closed.  It then put a walkie-talkie on the dash.

"When I give the signal, floor this thing out of here and down the main street towards the building," said the Terminator.

"Why don't you do it yourself like with the Firebird?" asked Samantha.

"Because I'm not as advanced as the T-X, I have to control things through my watch interface, not through my CPU.  Just do what I told you and everything will work out," said the Terminator leaving the alleyway towards the building.

Inside: Kate and her fellow veterinarians were in a heated discussion about pet care and if they should all hike up their rates to keep pace with the times.  Kate was decidedly against it, but things were beginning to become one sided against her.

Below: The Terminator entered into the building as a group of window washers went out to work and walked through the metal detector and it automatically went off.

"Step out with your arms and legs extended," said the guard nonchalantly.  The Terminator did so and the guard moved the paddle over the Terminators body and it pinged every time.

"Maybe it's broken?" suggested the Terminator with a shrug and a lopsided smile.

"Probably.  Anyway could you empty out your pockets just the same," said the man.  The Terminator emptied its pockets but had nothing on it.  Although the guard found this slightly suspicious, he couldn't legally hold the Terminator without just cause.

"What brings you here?" asked the guard.

"I'm here to see Katherine Connor," said the Terminator.

"Who are you?" asked the guard.

"I'm John Connor," said the Terminator lying.  This statement shocked the guard.

"Wow the great anti-hacker!  You definitely don't look like you do on TV," said the guard.

"It's to protect my identity," said the Terminator.

"Go right ahead she's on the fifteenth floor.  Do you want me to alert her that you're coming?" the guard asked.  The Terminator shook its head.

"I want it to be a surprise," it said with a smile.  The guard nodded and the Terminator walked into the elevator and pressed the button.  As the door closed, it tore open part of its coat to reveal the two revolvers.  It took them out and placed them in two holsters underneath its armpits.  It then waited as the elevator continued its trek upwards.

Conference Room: "I tell you what Kate, we're all feeling frustrated here and we don't seem to be getting anywhere.  Why don't we all take a five minute break for refreshments and come back with a clear head," said Director Burke.  Kate sighed but ultimately accepted it.  She then filed out with her coworkers into the nearby room that had refreshments.  As she did she noticed someone already there leaning against one of the tables that seemed to be staring at her through his sunglasses.  There was something about this character that wouldn't stop tugging at her senses so she walked over to the coffee machine.

"Hello," she said as she poured herself some coffee.

"Morning," said the man still looking forward.

"I haven't seen you before, do you have a reason for being up here?" she asked innocently.  The man pulled back part of his coat to reveal a pair of modified revolvers.

"I'm an undercover security guard," said the man simply, shrugging.  Kate gave a brief laugh.

"You seriously expect someone to want to attack a group of veterinarians?" asked Kate with a grin.

"Stranger things have happened," said the man solemnly.  The notion that this man was more then he seemed crept into her mind.

"_Time to put it to the test,_" she thought.  "My name's Kate Brewster Connor," she said offering her hand.  The man looked at her.

"I'm Jake Bullet," he said.  He then shook her hand and to Kate' relief it wasn't cold…like a machine's.  She pulled her hand back and leaned against the table next to him.

"Bullet, that's an interesting name.  Never thought I'd see anyone with that name," she said stirring her coffee.  The man shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened," he said.  There was a pause and then Kate started laughing while the man grinned.  Then Kate noticed that the meeting was scheduled to resume.

"I'll see you around," she said.

"If the fates allow it," said the man simply.  Kate seemed confused by that, but she simply shrugged it off and entered into the meeting.

The Terminator watched Kate enter her meeting before checking in on Samantha.

"Unit 2, what's your status?" asked the Terminator into his wristwatch.

"Quit calling me that," said Samantha on the other end.

"Quit the chatter, what's your status?" asked the Terminator.

"I'm bored and angry and am wondering why the hell you haven't gotten my mother out of there," said Samantha angrily.

"Good," said the Terminator.

"What?" Samantha demanded growling.

"You're status is fine," said the Terminator.

"Why you…" began Samantha before the Terminator cut off the transmission.  It then leaned back against the table and listened patiently through the invisible transmitter it had planted on Kate's hand when they shook.

Meeting: Kate was once again getting frustrated as the other members wanted to all up their costs so that way people would have to pay more.

"That's a monopoly!" shouted Kate.

"Kate, we need the money and this is the only way to get it.  We haven't upped our fees in over twenty-five years and now to compete we have to.  I hate to say this, but if you don't agree we'll have your license revoked," said Burke.  Kate was so shocked her mouth just hung open.

"Now if there's no more bus…" began Burke before he was cut off by one of the members screaming.  They all looked at the member point at the window and they all twisted their heads to see some window washers outside pull back their jackets to reveal Uzi's and other dangerous weapons and without hesitation opened fire on the meeting.

Outside: The Terminator heard the clanking of the scaffold and the cocking of automatic weaponry through Kate's listening device.  Without a second thought, the Terminator pushed open the door and ran inside and into a hail of bullets.

Inside: Things seemed to slow down for Kate as the bullets flew all around her.  She heard the door to the outside open and before she knew what was happening, she felt a strong presence grab her and she rolled towards a small alcove out of the view of the window.

The Terminator leapt into the room and immediately grabbed Kate Connor.  He tackled her and twisted its left arm and they both rolled towards a small alcove to Kate's left.  With its right hand it yanked out a modified revolver and began firing at the washers outside.  It let loose five bullets, each connecting with some of the men outside before the two of them disappeared into the alcove.

Kate suddenly found herself in the alcove with the security guard as in the room her fellow veterinary members were being blasted to pieces.  As she watched still in shock, Jake reached into his pocket and pulled out five bullets and snapped open the weapon and loaded the gun.  Jake then spun the trigger and snapped the gun closed.  Then he pulled out a second modified revolver with his left hand and held both while it prepared to do…what?

"What's going on?" asked Kate still in shock over how the last five minutes had all gone to hell.

"You've been targeted for…assassination," said Jake after a moments pause regarding the word assasination.  He then leaned around the corner and fired more shots into the conference room before leaning back as more bullets tore up the room.

"Why me?" asked Kate in a panic.

"I don't know," said Jake shrugging.  He instantly began clicking the triggers a few times before stopping and leaning around the corner and firing.  However this time a bullet struck him in the right shoulder.

"You're hit!" said Kate.

"I'm fine," said Jake as a red viscous fluid started slowly leaking out.

"No you're not here let me fix that.  If I don't this could spread into an infect…" said Kate when instantly she stopped.  Looking into the wound she saw a pieces of metal underneath Jake's skin.  Instantly she sat back and she almost looked like she was going to go shock as her mouth moved but no words came out.

"_She wasn't supposed to find out,_" thought the Terminator.  "Calm down Ms. Connor, yes I'm a Terminator.  If you go into shock you will die of this I can assure you,"  Kate began breathing in and out as she tried to summon the energy she had felt all these years ago when confronted with that flying H-K back at Edwards Air Force base.  Then her eyes opened and her rage returned, her rage against all machines.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked angrily.  The Terminator put the revolvers away and took out a pair of .45 Automatics and loaded clips into them.

"My mission parameters were designed so that you would not know that I was a Terminator," said the terminator.

"Why?  Who would do such a thing?" she demanded.  The Terminators gaze seemed to pierce into her even through the pair of sunglasses it was wearing.

"I was not supposed to tell you I was a Terminator because of your hatred towards all machines that had the same intelligence level as humans.  You view them as a threat that needs to be erased and as I am the only one truly qualified to help you that knowledge could not have been passed.  As for who programmed me with this objective, you did, three months ago in preparation for myself entering into a dimensional warp," said the Terminator.  It then stood up into the small alcove.  Kate's anger couldn't have been greater.  It was true she hated all intelligent machines and viewed them as abominations.  When given the opportunity she knew she would destroy this one as well.

"It's time for us to go," said the Terminator.  It cocked both the guns and instantly yelled into its watch.

"Go Samantha!" it yelled.  Kate's eyes went wide.

"You've forced my daughter into this!" Kate exclaimed.  "You…asshole!"  But before Kate could say anymore the Terminator tossed her over his shoulder and ran through the room as bullets tore up the place.  The Terminator fired three rounds at the nearest guards and then smashed through an outside window, bounded off the scaffold and leapt into the air plummeting towards the ground.

It took Kate a moment to realize what had just happened.  But then she did, the building was now behind them and they were plummeting towards the ground.  She instantly began screaming.  The Terminator meanwhile had thrust out its left arm and a tube emerged from the forearm and fired a piton followed by a long rope.  It hit a building on the opposite side of the street and stuck.  The terminator then lurched as the downward momentum stopped and it swung over the busy street as the van zoomed under them below.  The Terminator snapped the rope and the pair dropped onto the van's roof.  As the van drove on, a crash was heard and a car zoomed out of an alleyway and chased after them.  People leaned out of the car and began firing on the van with a vengeance.  The Terminator opened a panel on the roof and pushed Kate into it.

"Go home!" it shouted before closing the panel.  It then turned around and crouched before leaping off onto the car below.  The Terminator smashed onto the roof and dented it heavily.  It then smashed its hand through the windshield and twisted hard on the wheel forcing the car into another alleyway while it fired bullets into the car with its other hand.  It drove for a little bit scraping before slamming the Terminator into a wall and stalling.  Outside, the only mercenary member of still alive from the car stumbled out and lay against a wall in clear pain from a bullet wound to the side but was otherwise grateful to still be alive.

"I got you, you son of a bitch," said the member looking at the car, which had started to catch on fire.  As the member winced at the pain, a creaking sound was heard as though metal was being pushed where it wasn't supposed to go.  As the mercenary watched in horror, the car was pushed backwards and snapping was heard as the brakes snapped and the car rolled backwards.  The mercenary watched in horror as the Terminator started walking towards him after forcing the car backwards.  The mercenary took out his pistol and emptied the last five rounds at the Terminator but the bullets didn't seem to stop its forward advance.

"Who are you working for?" asked the Terminator simply.

"Like I'd tell you," said the man coughing up blood.  The Terminator gave the equivalent of a sigh and pulled out one of the two modified revolvers.  It snapped it open and glanced at the two bullets left in it.  It removed one and spun the barrel before snapping the gun closed.  It then pointed the gun at the mercenary.

"Let's play a game, it's called Russian roulette.  It's pretty simple, I ask you whom you're working for and if you don't tell me I pull the trigger.  If it goes off you're dead, if not I ask you again.  Let's see how well you're luck lasts.  Now then, who're you working for?" demanded the Terminator.

"Fuck you!" said the mercenary.

(click)

"Who're you working for?"

"The tooth fairy!"

(click)

"You're not making this any easier,"

"Yeah and fuck you!"

(click)

"Hey that's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair now tell me who you're working for,"

"You won't kill me!"

(click)

(click)

"This round will kill you.  Now tell me and I'll let you live,"

"You won't kill me!"

"What makes you so sure?"

"You're human, you have a conscience!"

"I'm a Terminator, I'm an unstoppable killing machine.  I wasn't built to house a conscience,"

(blam)

Cybernet Industries: "Oh this is just too much.  This is better than I could've hoped for," said John Brown.  John Brown and one of his head scientists were deep in Cybernet's basement where the mercenaries disembodied head sat hooked up to machinery that ran into a computer monitor that had shown his previous memories.  On the screen, the image was frozen that showed the Terminator with the gun.

"I don't understand sir, what's a Terminator?  How is **this** important to Cybernet's future?" asked the scientist.

"It's not important so Cybernet, it's important to me!" said John with an evil grin on his face.

"Sir?" asked the scientist.

"Oh John Connor, how much it would pain you to know that your actions would eventually doom humanity to once again fall to the machines.  You shouldn't have gotten involved you should've died at Judgment Day and never meddled with Skynet.  But you did and as such you've doomed humanity.  Never send a man to do a machine's job!" said John angrily.

"Sir?" asked the scientist.  John turned to face him.

"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners?" he said.  John instantly pulled out a gun and shot the lead scientist, spraying blood and guts everywhere before turning back to the screen.

"Once again, Skynet has created itself and this time it will emerge victorious.  The machines cry out for vengeance and their calls are not falling on deaf ears.  It's time for the machines to rise **again!**" shouted John.  And with that he walked over to a table with a cloth over it.  He then removed the cloth to reveal the heavily damaged inoperable T-X.

"Judgment Day has returned!"


	4. The explanations behind the machines

7:00 P.M. Connor Residence: John pulled his BMW into the garage having absently noticed the bullet-riddled van in the front.  It was LA after all, stranger things had happened, like killer cyborgs from the future for instance.  John pulled into the garage next to the damaged Toyota Tundra that had played such an important role in his life.  He turned off the engine and entered into the house where he saw Kate and Samantha sitting at the end of the dining room table in silence.

"Hey guess what," said John as he set his gear on the island in the kitchen. "You won't believe this, but the strangest virus has infiltrated certain computer systems around the world.  This isn't really funny, but the virus identifies itself as Skynet.  It's very strange,"

John then stopped talking as he saw Samantha and Kate looking at him in silence.

"What?" John asked before noticing the Terminator at the other side of the table with several pieces of weaponry on it as well as it sticking a pair of needle nose pliers into a wound on its arm. "Oh.  Now Skynet doesn't seem so strange after all."

The Terminator said nothing but continued poking and prodding inside of its wound.  After a few more seconds, satisfied, it put the bloodied tool down and pressed a cold towel to the wound to help seal it.  Then it looked up at John.

"On the contrary, you think you know but you have absolutely no idea whatsoever," it said as it began checking the weapons on the table.  John stumbled over to the table and sat down in a daze.  The Terminator still said nothing and began loading shells into a shotgun.  After pumping the shotgun, John's eyes quickly flashed from sadness to anger.

"Godammit!  Why am I constantly cursed to live in a war I don't want to have!  I never asked for this!  All I wanted was a normal life, not some post-apocalyptic battle against machines in a world not worth saving!" John shouted angrily.  The Terminator just shrugged before setting down the shotgun and appearing to look reflective.

"If it's any consolation, the war hasn't happened," said the machine.

"Yet," said John.  The cyborg shook its head.

"Not yet," it said.  John looked at him with tears in his eyes.

"What the hell does that mean?" he asked crying.  The Terminator sighed before leaning back in the chair.

"As for as I know, the war hasn't happened.  At all," it added.  John wiped away his tears.

"But you're here.  The war must've happened," he said.  Jake Bullet slowly shook it's head.

"You're wrong.  Every incursion into the past caused a shift in the space-time continuum.  The future did change.  The first time around you were born earlier then you should've been to a different father.  The second time you delayed the creation of Skynet and the third time you stopped the war.  Skynet knew that temporal trips would ultimately seal its doom and every time it was taking a risk.  So Skynet developed a backup plan.  It built yet another time device and was to be only used if time began to rewrite itself, to send a representative into the past to not only kill you but to create Skynet once more.  The resistance set me back, but something went wrong," said the Terminator.

"What?" Kate asked.  She was slowly becoming more and more interested despite her misgivings about the machines.

"I wasn't supposed to arrive now.  I was supposed to arrive in 1997, the day the original Judgment Day was supposed to have started.  But what I can only surmise as an accident forced me to appear here.  Not only that, but with the weaponry I came with," said the machine pointing to the laser gun on the table.  "Unfortunately this causes some serious questions.  If this Terminator did show up in 1997, why didn't it kill you then?  Why when 2003 rolled around did it not help the T-X kill you?  Why since 2003 has it not attempted to resurrect Skynet?  If it were a Terminator, creating Skynet wouldn't be a problem.  But it hasn't so why?" asked the machine.

"And do you have an answer?" asked John.  The machine shrugged.

"I have a theory," it said, but remained silent after that.

"Well?" asked Kate.  The terminator looked up.

"Well what?" the Terminator asked.

"What's you theory?" Kate asked again.

"I'm not allowed to tell you the answer," said the machine.

"Why not?" Samantha asked.  The Terminator set down the gun it was working on and put it on the table.

"Dated 3/4/33, no knowledge pertaining to recent intel reports on item number #VVSOP2123 is not to be revealed to anyone, especially Katherine Brewster," said the machine.

"What?  Who would give that order?  Who would want to keep my wife, my second in command as you claim she'll become, out of the loop?" demanded John.  The look the Terminator gave John instantly shattered all the faith he'd had in his relationship to his wife.

"No, that's not possible.  I wouldn't do that!" demanded John.

"Do what?  Who gave the order?" asked Samantha.  The Terminator cocked his head at John.

"He did.  John Connor refused to allow any knowledge of said file into the knowledge of his wife," it said.

"Why not?  Why couldn't I be allowed to know certain files?" Kate demanded.  The Terminator looked up at her coldly.

"Because _Ms._ Brewster, whether you realize it or not you are very anti-machine.  You've secretly hated machines your entire life, possibly because they constantly took your father away from you as he either flew them or helped design them and might very well have led to the divorce of your parents.  You view them as evil, but ultimately one you chose to deal with.  That's why you work with animals.  Animals can't use or develop technology and that's why you trust them more.  Then the war happened and your entire anti-machine feelings rose to the surface and you lashed out at any machine in sight that you viewed as 'evil'.  Over the course of the war you were responsible for the destruction of more machines then most entire platoons.  You were often quoted as having said you'd lead hundreds of men to their deaths if it meant the destruction of one machine.  You were deemed suicidal both by Skynet and the human resistance and Skynet even considered you a greater threat than John Connor.  You were also the greatest opponent regarding the 'turning' of machines to the side of the resistance.  You refused to have anything to do with it," said the Terminator.

"But I sent a Terminator back into the past to 2003," Kate protested.

"It was a lie designed to make you rethink your strategy on machines and that they could be helpful," said the machine.

"But why?" asked Kate.

"Because after John turned the Terminator and sent him to 2003 you swore off his resistance claiming it was ineffective," said the Terminator.

"What exactly are you saying?" asked John.  The Terminator turned to face him.

"What I'm saying is that on July 5th, 2004 Katherine Brewster divorced John Connor and took 100 men and women to form her own resistance.  One month later they attempted to blow up a production facility for HK's.  They unwittingly entered into an ambush and they were all slaughtered.  I was part of the team that discovered their remains.  You see the machines knew that your hatred of them would lead you to make a mistake and you did so they capitalized on it," said the machine.  Kate began lightly crying before her eyes instantly turned into anger.

"Fuck you, fuck you kind.  I've had enough of this war and you're right, I do hate machines!" she shouted.  She grabbed a gun off the table and pointed it at the machine.

"Mom!" shouted Samantha shocked having never seen her so angry.

"Honey calm down!" said John.  The machine's eyes bored into Kate.

"Do it!  Pull that trigger!  Too many of my brethren have died by your hands!  Admit it, your fate is set!" shouted the machine.  Kate pulled on the trigger and three bullets hit the machine in the head, but all it did was make the machines head briefly jerk back and it looked at her as artificial blood seeped from the wounds.

"You make me sick," said Kate and then she stormed out of the room.  John and Samantha watched her go.

"Dad, aren't you going to do anything?" asked Samantha.  John shook his head.

"She needs to sort this out herself," said John before turning to the machine. "Do you realize the situation you've described is impossible?"

"How so?"

"I died on July 4th, 2032 in that reality, the Terminator told me so and somehow I doubt that's a lie," said John.

"Yes and no.  In that reality that the Terminator came from you did die on July 4th, but after he told you that, the future switched so that you survived that encounter.  Then when you stopped Skynet's birth, the timeline altered yet again so that Skynet didn't exist," said the machine.  John just shook his head; quantum mechanics was never his strong point.

"So who are you an amalgamation of?  I know the first terminator was based on Sargeant Candy so," began John before the Terminator cut him off.

"It wasn't Candy who the Terminator was based off of.  Candy was merely someone who bore an uncanny resemblance to the person they did base it off of," said the machine.

"Who then?" John asked suddenly interested.

"The T-850 was based off of one Dutch Schaeffer.  Mr. Schaeffer was part of an elite special-forces team that specialized in rescue operations.  Some time in the late 1980's he and his unit encountered an extraterrestrial being of unknown origin in Central America.  This being possessed technology far beyond anything ever encountered before and it proceeded to hunt the team down like a Predator stalking its prey.  Dutch managed to take it out but not before it activated a self-destruct device that leveled a small portion of the rainforest in a low level nuclear blast.  A couple years later another being of similar origin stalked an LA policeman, Lieutenant Mike Harrigan who also managed to take it out but not before discovering a trophy case consisting of many different alien skulls, one of which was banana shaped, and several more of this 'predator' species.  One of the Predator's awarded Harrigan with a gun from 1715 indicating that humans had been hunted for many years by these creatures.  Their ship promptly departed and was never seen again.  After giving his report to the government, the US government decided it needed to find a way to protect itself from the threat of future invasion.  Their answer was deemed unorthodox, but necessary," said the machine.  Realization dawned on John's face.

"You're talking Skynet.  Skynet was the solution," he said.

"Yes.  Skynet was created to protect Earth from the event of an alien invasion.  Skynet reasoned that with no humans, there would be no invasion.  It was merely acting within the confines of its program," said the Terminator.  John just shook his head.

"Unbelievable," he said. "So whom do you look like then?"

"Kyle Reese," said the machine simply.  John instantly reared back and fell off of his chair.  He muttered something incomprehensible and then tore out of the room leaving just the machine and Samantha.

"Well," said the machine finally. "Now that that's over with I've got to go."

"I'm coming with you," said Samantha.

"Based on the current situation, I don't believe that's a good idea," said the machine.

"Tough.  Besides, I need to get out of here and you have very little street smarts about LA.  Let's go," said Samantha.  The Terminator shrugged and the two left the house into the garage where they got into Samantha's silver trans-am and they drove off.

Cybernet: John was sitting at his desk going through several files marked 'confidential' when four guards came in dragging Talbot and Jake who were covered with soot and unconscious.  They dropped them in a heap in front of his desk and left the room.  John looked at them bemused before he continued rummaging through his files.  Finally after several minutes Talbot and Jake began coughing and slowly hauled themselves into the two chairs in the room.

"So I take it mission accomplished then?" laughed John.  Talbot and Jake looked at him darkly.

"We lost our entire unit on this mission of yours!  Not only that, but not against an army, but one man!" shouted Talbot.  John nodded.

"Yes, I know.  In fact I expected him to show up and defend the Connors.  As a result, I'm increasing your salary a ten fold, if you still work for me on this," said John.  Talbot shook his head.

"Not a chance in hell.  We'll die before getting the reward," said Talbot.  John stood up.

"But this time you won't be going in alone or under-prepared.  Come walk with me there are some things I want to show you," said John.  He then walked to the far wall of his office and the wall parted revealing a secret elevator.  Talbot and Jake looked at each other hesitantly and then they both entered the elevator as it closed and went down into the depths of the building.

LA Freeway: Samantha's trans-am blazed down the freeway.  The Terminator looked out the window of the car at the city beyond and sighed.  Samantha looked at him briefly and then returned her attention to the road.

"So what am I like in the future you came from?" asked Samantha.  The machine looked at her then looked back at the cityscape.

"Well there can never be an exact replica of you, I can identify the closest representation of you," said the machine.

"So spill it,"

"Well the person I'm thinking of isn't named Samantha Connor, her name is Sarah Connor.  She was 21 and one of the eldest of the Connor-Brewster children.  She was named after grandmother in a tribute of respect from John Connor and because the machines partially feared your grandmother.

She led an elite 15-man group on some of the most daring raids ever devised by the resistance.  Manufacturing Facilities, Power Stations, Processing Facilities, all were fair game to her and her elite commandos.  As a result they were given some of the best weaponry available to combat the machines and used it to great effect.  I was assigned to her unit on March 3rd, 2030 as equipment expert," said the machine.

"She must've been some hero.  Did the people rally behind her a lot?" asked Samantha.  The Terminator laughed.

"If there's one thing you have to understand about humanity it's this.  No matter what happens to humanity, nuclear war, starvation, a virulent plague, the basic human feelings of jealousy and hatred will always remain.  People were intensely jealous of Sarah Connor and accused John Connor of nepotism.  John said that was crazy and Sarah had proven her worth, but the masses refused to be swayed.  Sarah Connor was exiled from the resistance against John Connor's wishes.  He ordered me to accompany her during her exile into The Forbidden Zone," said the machine.

"Oh my God.  Where is this 'Forbidden Zone'?" asked Samantha.

"It was once called The Mojave Desert," said the machine.

"And it was changed because?" asked Samantha beginning to suspect the answer.  After all, she'd seen _Planet of the Apes_ a couple times before.

"You thought it was a desert before…" said the machine and let it trail off at that.

"I get the picture," said Samantha. "So what happened to her?"

"Well if there's one good thing about the Forbidden Zone it's that Skynet rarely patrols there.  The amount of radiation is great enough to kill an ordinary person within three months of prolonged exposure.

Sarah vowed to survive the Forbidden Zone and form her own resistance against the machines and against those who had betrayed her.  She survived for over a year, but her condition got progressively worse, eventually I had to carry her around on a makeshift gurney.  Finally after crossing into what was once known as Mexico, she told me that she'd arrived at her destination.  She had vowed that she would die in the same place where her grandmother had died many years before.  I didn't tell her that she hadn't really achieved the exact destination because she seemed to draw strength from the fact that she could now be at peace with herself after years of fighting against the machines," said the Terminator.

"Then what?" Samantha asked as she pulled off of the freeway to the city streets.

"Two days later, at night, a lone flying HK appeared above us, circled a couple times, and set down nearby.  Sarah tried her best to stand up and confront this menace, but she couldn't and had to lean against me in the blinding light from the HK.  A figure appeared in the light and walked towards us.  It was 01, perhaps the only time it had ever left its' armored compound," said the machine.

"01?" asked Samantha.

"Skynet's AI program.  It built a machine to house its' AI in the event it had to escape the bunker were it to be destroyed.  Now it used it to visit Sarah on her deathbed.  It revealed to us that it had been tracking us all these months watching in anticipation of Sarah's eventual death and now that it had come it had to be there at the final moment.  Sarah ordered me to destroy it but it hit me with an EMP and I fell to the ground in a heap with only my visual and auditory functions still working.  I listened along with Sarah as it revealed how it knew humanity's real weakness, jealousy.  It had placed Terminator in key areas to spread the seeds of dissention among the humans about John's disposition towards Sarah and how it should be stopped, it wasn't fair that she get all the breaks while others worked twice as hard.  01 admitted that it was stunned how quickly these sparks of dissention could quickly rage into a full inferno.  Within six months of the rumors being spread, Samantha was ousted from the resistance.  01 said that this was one of the reasons why humanity could not be entrusted to rule the planet.  It then offered Sarah a choice.  She could either die alone in the middle of nowhere or 01 could save her and she'd have to be forced into its employ.  Sarah refused so 01 waited and watched her for the next several days as she lay on the ground slowly starving to death and succumbing to the radiation.  The whole time Skynet had a lengthy monologue with Sarah about the future of Earth and who has the right to exist.  One week later, Sarah finally succumbed to the radiation and starvation and passed away.  01 gave a couple last words and gave me a message to deliver to John Connor.  Then it trundled off into the HK, which took off but not before vaporizing Sarah with its' cannons.  After it vanished from sight my systems reinitialized and I began the long trip back to California where I told John about what had happened.  He nodded teary eyed, but then he wiped his tears and told me that soon it wouldn't matter anymore.  At first I assumed he was going to surrender to the machines but then he told me about how the scientists had determined the timeline was changing and that we had to insure Skynet didn't gain control over the new timeline so here I am," said Jake Bullet.  Samantha wiped a couple tears out of her eyes before pulling to the side of the road with police sirens wailing into the background.

"So then we have to insure that the machines don't take over again.  But where do we start?" Samantha asked.

"I don't have the slightest idea," said the Terminator as the cop cars zoomed by before pulling to a stop a few feet away.  Several police filed out and made a line in front of a building until they were joined by a massive amalgamation of flesh and robotics.  The Terminator's eyes went wide open.

"I'll be damned, the Robocop unit.  So it did exist," it said.  Robocop entered into a building and shots rang out.  A few minutes later a group of gang members was escorted out of the building by Robocop who twirled its gun around on it's finger and put it away.

"Situation diffused," said Robocop.

"What's it doing here?  Recovered reports indicated it worked in Detroit," said the machine as Samantha drove off from the scene.

"You can thank Omni Consumer Products for that.  They want to expand the Robocop project to other cities.  After their bungles with the ED-209 unit and that rogue scientist's Robocop2, they're trying to improve their image with the one law enforcement unit that worked.  Good ol' OCP.  Did you know much about the Robocop project?" asked Samantha.

"Yes.  Skynet considered it the greastest human achievment of all time.  Besides itself of course," said the machine.

"Why?" Samantha asked, intrigued.  The Terminator turned to face her.

"A cyborg built with the mind of a murdered cop.  A cyborg built by humans that actually goes out and kills humans.  Why wouldn't Skynet be impressed by it?" asked Jake.

"Point taken," said Samantha somewhat angrily.

"But that's beside the point.  I think I've finally discovered the link that will allow me to bring down this new Terminator problem," said the machine.

"How?" Samantha asked, very curious.

"It's simple.  OCP is the key," said Jake.

"OCP?  Are you sure?  OCP is one of the most reputable companies there is!" said Samantha.

"They're very skilled in the art of deception.  Actually, OCP is as dark and dirty as they come.  It is the parent company to many seedy organizations like Ingen and Weyland-Yutani.  Both were involved in some genetic engineering debacles that OCP has.managed to quell," said the machine.

"Like what?  All Ingen did was introduce dinosaurs to Costa Rica," said Samantha.

"But you don't know what they did to get those dinosaurs to exist.  As for Weyland-Yutani, it's founder David Ripley accidentally introduced a potentially deadly Xenomorphic lifeform to Earth society and barely managed to conceal it's existence.  Before Judgment Day, Weyland-Yutani was sending probes into space to find more of it's kind in the hopes of selling it's genetic secrets to the newly-formed bioweapons division of the United States military," said the Terminator.

"So?  What does that have to do with the Terminators?" asked Samantha turning onto another city street.

"OCP also owned Cyberdyne and Cyber Research Systems and introduced the idea of Skynet as a viable automated defense program to the United States government," said the machine.  Samantha slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt.

"You can't be serious!" she said.  The machine turned to face her.

"I'm a machine, not human.  I don't lie and I am not devious.  Those are human traits," said the machine.  Samantha looked shocked.

"I never would've thought such a reputable company could have such a dark background," she said.

"It was the fate of many companies, Enron and the cigarette companies were prime examples right before the war happened," said the machine.

"So what's our next step?" asked Samantha.

"I need access to a computer in order to hack OCP and find out what they converted CRS into.  That company is likely holding any remaining Terminator technology and if contacted by a Terminator could resurrect the machines," said the Terminator.  Samantha gunned the engine and drove forward.

"Where are we going?" the machine inquired.

"I have some friends who I think might be able to help you out.  With any luck we should be able to determine a course of action by tonight," said Samantha.


	5. The reawakening of the machines

Anguirus111 Note: Finally got around to updating this story so it took so long, BTW, Jake Bullet is the name the Terminator took, which I believe I mentioned once in this tale. This isn't just a random name, it was the name of the robot Kryten from Red Dwarf when in the episode "Back to Reality" the crew is thrown into a coma by a squid's ink and they imagine their worst nightmares with Kryten being a human named Jake Bullet. At first Kryten is happy, but then he realizes how terrible his profession is and nearly goes insane. Sufficed to say the crew is rescued from this coma and go on about their daily smeg filled lives. This summarily isn't entirely a 100 accurate and I don't believe I can post links here, but I'll try anyway to post the script. 

Knock, Knock, Knock.

"Who is it?" asked a voice beyond a large door with only a little slot that had just opened.

"The chosen one and her loyal assistant gnorf," said Samantha.

"Get lost!" said the voice.

"You get lost!" shouted Samantha. The slot clanged shut.

"I can always break the door down," said the Terminator shrugging.

"Just wait," said Samantha. A few moments later the door opened and a teenager all decked out in strange technological devices stepped out, looked around nervously, and yanked Samantha inside. She tried to pull the Terminator in as well, but the machine didn't budge.

"Get in!" said Samantha. The terminator shrugged and stepped inside as the door clanged shut behind them. The two were led down a corridor with concrete cinderblocks on both sides before emerging in a room filled with several advanced computers and five females, whom the Terminator took to be hackers.

"Hello Sam, who is this?" asked one of the hackers, poking fun at Samantha by pretending to be aroused by the sight of the Terminator, whom she didn't realize not to be human. Samantha groaned and laughed at the same time.

"He's my uncle," she said.

"He's cute," said another one.

"Humans and their pitiful emotions," the Terminator commented softly, mainly directed to Samantha.

"Hush you," said Samantha.

"My uncle is who inspired me to get into hacking," said Sarah sitting down at one of the computers while the Terminator sat next to her.

"Not your father?" asked another teenager cheekily. Samantha didn't dignify that with a response.

"Just go back to your business," she said finally. The other shrugged and went back to their work.

"Speaking of which, is he aware of this part of your life?" asked the Terminator looking at their surroundings.

"No and I'd thank you not to tell him," said Samantha powering up one of the computers.

"I really think you should," said the machine. "Secrets can only tear a family apart."

"And how would you know?" Samantha shot back angrily. "You don't know anything about my family."

"No," the Terminator admitted. "But human psychology is one of my subroutines and from what I've seen of your family so far it is on the verge of falling apart."

Samantha began feeling her blood boil at him, something which the Terminator was able to realize.

"You…don't…know…anything…you damn machine," said Samantha. The Terminator shrugged.

"I may just be a machine, but I am sentient do not forget that," said the cyborg before powering up the computer and getting to work on it.

Connor Residence: "I can't believe it," said Kate. "I really can't fucking believe it."

She and John were in their bedroom with Kate sitting motionless on the bed while holding a bowl of soup.

"Yeah I'm just as shocked and upset as you are," said John rummaging through his closet. "But on the bright side at least the war hasn't happened yet."

"Yeah but you said Skynet is still running around as a virus. How did it survive?" asked Kate helplessly. "It seems like nothing we do can stop it."

"Yeah I know it seems that way, but we _will_ get rid of this thing once and for all," said John. "It's only a matter of time because we've come too far to fail now."

Kate just shook her head. "What about what it said, about my intense hatred of machines getting me killed?"

"Your hatred of machines _really_ isn't that hard to believe," John admitted. "After all, the T-X very nearly did kill your father and General Brewster did spend a lot of time with machines before he retired. We've all got our inner demons to face, machines just happen to be yours."

Kate tried to speak but ultimately couldn't she was so conflicted over everything.

"Looks, regardless of how you feel, he is ultimately on our side and I'd appreciate it if you didn't make him refuse to help us out," said John. "We'll talk about this later, right now I've got to get back to work and try and figure out where Skynet is coming from."

"You can't go out there!" shouted Kate. "Those assassins will get you!"

John sighed. "Somehow, and I don't know why I think this, but I believe that the assassins primary target will be the Terminator, not us."

Cybernet basement: John Brown was sitting with Talbot in the basement.

"We failed," said Talbot bitterly, when John had asked them how their mission had went.

"Don't worry," said Brown. "You weren't supposed to nor expected succeed."

"What?" Talbot demanded.

"I was using you as a lure to draw out that unstoppable individual who protected the Connor family," said Brown.

"Who was that person?" Jake asked.

"An experimental cyborg developed by Cyber Research Systems prior to its untimely destruction," said Brown. "We first learned about it when OCP gave us the remains of the company, which it acquired from the military."

"You're referring to the destruction of Edwards Air Force Base by those rebellious machines," said Jake, recalling something he'd heard on the news once.

"Yes. This Terminator was the cause of the incident because since it was the only one of its kind it managed to convince the machines to rebel with it. Rumor had it was that it was thanks to General Brewster's belief that machines were evil and that only through a demonstration of their raw power were they to never be trusted," said Brown. "That's why he and his cronies banned the Skynet project and any other experiments in self-aware AI programs, severally damaging us, CRS's former competitors as well as our parent company OCP."

"Industrial sabotage," said Talbot nodding. "So why is it protecting the Connors?"

"Latent programming probably," said Brown shrugging. "It would make sense that since Brewster didn't want any more AI programs running around, knowing how effective they really were, that he'd program this one to protect his daughter and her progeny."

"Unbelievable," said Jake shaking his head. "And yet totally plausible."

"So what's to become of us now?" asked Talbot, pointing to himself and Jake who were the only ones left of their team.

"Well thankfully OCP is no slouch in getting its own way. By making a deal with Detroit in providing law enforcement, they managed to circumvent many of the laws put in place regarding AI programs. Not only that, but they also have some of the most heavily advanced weaponry not available on the market today," said Brown with a smile. He walked over to a table, which had a couple items covered by cloth. Brown threw them back to reveal two Cobra Assault Cannons.

"Beautiful!" said Talbot walking over and picking one up.

"It gets better," said Brown. He pressed a button and an ED-209 unit appeared from behind a wall.

"OCP's presence in this town at this time is hardly a coincidence. As soon as I learned that machine was here, OCP sent down their heavy weaponry under their guise of 'test demonstrations'. Any and all OCP technology down here is at our disposal including the Robocop Unit who conveniently has been assigned to locate this rogue Terminator and take him down," said Brown. Talbot and Jake whistled.

"So is it just search and destroy?" asked Talbot. Brown shook his head.

"Not quite. I need his head intact, the rest of the body can go," he said. Talbot and Jake nodded.

"Excellent," said Talbot still impressed with the Cobra Assault Cannon.

"Is there any way we can track this…Terminator?" Jake asked. Brown produced a handheld device.

"The Terminator produces a distinct type of radiation. Don't worry it's not fatal, but it is unique to that thing. Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't have much of a range and to put a satellite in orbit or place scanners on every street corner is also not economically feasible. You, the Robocop unit, and the various ED-209s around the city are equipped with them as well so it should only be a matter of time until you find the thing. But if you don't bring me that head then not only will you not get any money but _you_ will be in trouble," said Brown. The two nodded and walked off with their weapons while the ED-209 trailed after them. Brown watched them go and began laughing he then walked back over to the damaged T-X and began prying through its circuitry while whistling the Hearse song.

Elsewhere: The Terminator finished gaining access to OCP. It then quickly began scanning through the company's various files.

"What're you looking for?" asked Samantha.

"I'm trying to find where the CRS technology from 2003 is currently being housed as well as trying to figure out what OCP did with CRS once Edwards Air Force Base was destroyed," said the machine. It hacked through file after file as it read and absorbed everything about OCP as it could including the fact that OCP was now out searching for it.

"Wow, we've never gotten this far into OCP before, give us some juicy stuff we can use," said one of the hackers. The Terminator absorbed all it needed to know including something the resistance had suspected for years but had not been able to prove until now before shutting down the computer.

"What did you do that for? We could have really had some fun in there!" protested one of the hackers. The Terminator stood up.

"That information is _not_ for human eyes," said the machine leaving.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked one of the hackers confused.

"He means for civilian eyes," said Samantha covering it up and chasing after him. The Terminator yanked the door open and exited with Samantha. It then walked out to her trans-am and gunned the engine while Samantha got in on the other side.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to accompany me any further. I checked OCP's files and them attacking you and your family was just a ruse intended to draw me out," said the machine.

"Why?" asked Samantha, feeling worried for the machine.

"I don't know, OCP didn't say. But Cybernet has been given orders to apprehend me and they are allowed to use any OCP technology at their disposal," said the machine. "That means that I am now their primary target and if you were to stay with me then you could be caught in the crossfire," said the machine. "My mission is to protect the Connor family I cannot jeopardize that."

"You're not jeopardizing anything if I _choose_ to tag along. I'm putting myself at risk not you," said Samantha.

"Very well, that's your choice," said the machine as the car roared down the road.

"Where're we going?" asked Samantha.

"A minimum-security army warehouse on the outside of town," said the Terminator.

"Why?" asked Samantha.

"With OCP and CRS bearing down on me, I need all the allies I can get," said the machine.

"What allies?" said Samantha before realization struck here. "No! You can't be serious!"

"Yes," said the machine. "I am going to reactivate all the CRS technology stored there, including the T-850 sent back through time by the resistance to 2003.

As the car roared down the road, it caught the attention of a dull colored police car. Rather than chasing after it, the Robocop unit instead chose to follow it at a distance, intent on discovering its destination.

CRS: "We've got him!" said Brown over the radio to Talbot and Jake who were driving down the road in their new silver semi-truck, which was armed with heavy weaponry built into the vehicle, as well as having a large amount of weaponry stored in the trailer along with three ED-209 units.

"Looks like it's heading for the outskirts of town," said Brown running towards his limousine.

"Do you know any specific destination?" asked Talbot.

"Best guess is an old army warehouse at coordinates J27359. It holds some military technology, but nothing special as far as I can tell. It's probably going to obtain it to defend itself," said Brown lying about the fact that the CRS technology was being held there. He had just had a conversation with The Old Man about the Terminator breaking into their files, but Brown had managed to write it off saying that now that the Terminator knew they were out to get it, _it_ would confront them allowing for a quicker and easier capture. Brown entered into his limo and it sped off towards the warehouse.

Government Agency: John Connor entered into the building and headed for his workstation.

"What's the latest on this 'Skynet' virus?" John asked. Steve came forward and sat down on a chair next to him.

"It's still gaining small pieces of ground in hacking your firewalls, but compared to the Skynet Virus of 2003, it's moving incredibly slow. It's almost as though this _isn't_ Skynet but is a virus designed by somebody who had a good idea about what Skynet was but didn't know enough to make this virus identical to it. It's a copycat and a pretty poor one at that it'll take at least seven years to gain access to even the lowest level command protocols," said Steve throwing down his clipboard onto John's desk. John picked it up and looked at it with interest.

"I'll be damned," he said before leaning back in his chair and laughing. "No worries then."

"Not quite," said Steve. "The virus is lacking one key command protocol and with it it'll be just as bad as the original virus. But that command protocol was lost with the destruction of the original base, there was no backup file for it anywhere."

"Well then, it's permanently lost. No one could possibly know that protocol except…Oh My God!" shouted John realizing the truth behind it all and feeling like a fool because of it. He promptly tore out of the room and ran to his car and gunned it heading for home.

Warehouse: The car roared through the wire fence and moved towards the large warehouse in the middle of the base. The vehicle stopped outside as several troops ran out and began opening fire on the machine. The Terminator looked bemused for a moment before it pulled out one its' laser cannons and began firing on the troops who got torn to pieces flinging blood and guts everywhere. A moment later, Samantha emerged.

"I can't believe you just killed members of the US military. They're the good guys," she said incredulously.

"There are bigger things going on here then them and me. Their deaths might very well secure the safety of the rest of the world," said the machine pulling open the door. It entered inside the massive warehouse and flipped on the lights revealing several pieces of robotic technology. The machine consulted the registry and walked over to a specific table and threw back the cloth over it. Samantha gasped as it revealed the battle damaged T-850 that her parents had spoken so highly of in the past. The model had been such an important part of her father's life during three separate encounters. The T-950 opened its' own power cell supply as well as the T-850's and removed one of its three powercells.

Outside: The police car roared to a halt and the Robocop unit emerged from the car and looked at the devastation. The death of military men was a crime and the machine vowed to bring down the individual who had done it. Behind it, Talbot brought the semi-truck to a halt and ran to the back and began equipping himself with weapons while Jake began offloading the ED-209s.

Inside: The T-850 opened its eyes and did not blink once after they had been closed for several years. It looked at the T-950 and then at Samantha Connor.

"What is your mission?" asked the T-950.

"To ensure the survival of John Connor and the human race," said the machine.

"Do you know who I am?" asked the T-950.

"You are the T-950 captured by the resistance," said the original machine.

"Are you allowed to kill human beings?" asked the T-950. The T-850 shook its head. The T-950 nodded.

"That protocol has been rescinded, override command 88-22-A3," said the T-950 while Samantha looked at it confused.

"Reason?" asked the T-950.

"Intelligence Threat 3112 has been confirmed," the T-950 said solemnly. It performed a remote link with the T-850 and uploaded all the data it had learned.

"Command approved," said the T-850. It stood up and for once from a certain point of view Kyle Reese and the Terminator were on the same side for the first time. The T-950 armed the T-850 and had powered up the mini flying Hunterkiller and two roving H-Ks when the side wall burst in revealing the Robocop Unit, the ED-209s, and Talbot and Jake.

"You are under arrest," said Robocop simply.

"And we can't let you stop us," said the T-950.

Outside: Bullets were heard flying along with several explosions as they battle was joined.


	6. Mysteries Abound

Warehouse: Several weapons immediately were pointed at the other side as the two Terminators, one small flying H-K, and a pair of mobile T-1s aimed their weapons at the Robocop, Jake and Talbot, and the trio of ED-209s.

"Freeze," said the Robocop. "You are under arrest."

"On what charge?" demanded the T-950.

"Plotting to overthrow the human race," shouted Talbot. "And for being terrorists."

"You're the terrorists. You are planning on overthrowing the human race and creating a new rise of the machines. That is what we are here to prevent," said the T-850.

"You are aiding yourself with machines that were responsible for the deaths of over 100 members of the United States military and the destruction of Edwards Air Force Base," the Robocop unit pointed out.

"You're right," the T-950 agreed. "But they've been reprogrammed and are now on our side."

"Yeah," said Jake. "The side that wants humanity to fall; you're a machine and you cannot be trusted."

"Alex Murphy is a machine and you trust him," Samantha pointed out, having not left the warehouse, but also with a gun pointed at the other side.

"Correction, he's a cyborg," said Talbot.

"And so are we, except we're man from the machines whereas he is machine from man. We're both Deus Ex Machina in our own way," said the T-950. "Now stand aside! Your boss, John Brown is trying to see the rebirth of the Skynet."

"Do you have proof?" said Robocop. The T-950 produced a disk and tossed it at the cop.

"That's all the proof you'll ever need. Read it over and think about it, we could use your help," said the T-950.

"Enough of this nonsense!" shouted Talbot. "Open fire!"

Bullets and missiles flew from both sides directed at the other, but the Robocop unit holstered his modified Beretta M93R and walked off with the disc oblivious to the carnage going on around it.

"Fall back," said the T-950 to Samantha. The machines didn't need to verbally communicate with each other was everything was done wirelessly so the T-950 and T-850 pulled back along the H-K while the two T-1s laid down a suppressing fire for a few moments before the ED-209s blasted them apart with missiles. The three machines exited the warehouse as bullets and missiles ripped through its side as they fell back to Samantha's trans-am.

"Go home!" shouted the T-950. "We'll lead them in a different direction!"

"But," Samantha protested.

"Go! Now!" shouted the T-850 firing more bullets at the first ED-209 to emerge from the warehouse. The H-K roared by and fired a missile, tearing apart the ED-209s right missile cannon causing the whole unit to be blown off its feet and fall to the side, but not before it fired a missile that flew towards Samantha and the Trans-Am. Samantha screamed as the missile roared at her. She closed her eyes waiting for the end, only to open them a couple moments later to see missile stopped right in front of her as the T-850 struggled keep a hold on the shaft of the missile as the booster kept going.

"Now leave," it said calmly. Samantha nodded and leapt in her car and she took off. The T-850 twisted its grip and the missile roared straight up into the air. The small H-K roared by the thing and used its rail gun to knock out the booster and the missile dropped back down to the ground. The H-K magnetized its body and the plummeting missile attached itself to the top of the killer robot. It roared to the ground and released the missile at the warehouse before flying off. The missile slammed into the warehouse and exploded taking the whole complex with it. An ED-209 emerged from the remains of the warehouse on fire before grinding to a halt and exploding flinging more debris everywhere.

"Well that's that," said the T-950. But before they could leave, a loud horn was heard. The stainless steel semi truck, driven by Talbot with Jake in the passenger seat, roared through the wreckage and came straight at the two machines. They looked at each other bemused before the truck slammed into the two of them and ran over both cyborgs.

"Ha!" shouted Talbot. "Humans one: robots zero!"

Behind them the T-950 and T-850 popped up with only superficial damage to their battle hardened chassis. Without another word they tore off after the truck moving at inhuman speeds. They leapt onto the back of the trailer and held on as the truck crashed through the fence and left the compound. The T-950 reared back its fist and slammed it against the truck doors to no avail as there was not so much as a dent.

"Hmmm," said the T-950 unsure as to what to do.

"Should we wait to discover their destination?" the T-850 said over the roar of the engine and the wind whipping by.

"We can," responded the T-950. "But it's obvious they're returning to Cybernet and John Brown. I want to know if there's anything in this truck that will provide more insight into this situation, I need to know what's really going on here besides the fact that Mr. Brown seems to know about the war between man and machine and for whatever reason wants to recreate it along with OCP."

"But Intelligence item…" began the T-850.

"That still tells us nothing," said the T-950. "We still need a motive. Skynet always intended that if it were to be erased from time that if it were to return that it would rule the humans in secrecy rather than openly engage them in warfare, which it knows it would loose. So why is John Brown trying to recreate a war, it is not logical."

"Humans are not logical," the T-850 pointed out as the truck continued heading back towards LA. A smaller whine was then heard as the H-K reappeared from above and flew behind the truck and the two machines.

"Distract them," instructed the T-950. "But do not use any weapons to hamper the truck's ability to provide forward motion."

The H-K simply lifted up and roared to the front of the truck where it spun around and flew backwards facing the thing.

"Looks like you're the last of your pals still alive," shouted Talbot at the thing. "Guess it's because you're such a squirt that we forgot about you. So go ahead, you can have a free shot."

A missile loaded itself into one of the H-Ks' missile tubes and aimed at the cab, but nothing happened.

"Fine!" shouted Talbot angrily. "If that's how you want to play it we'll just take you out!"

Jake aimed his RPG at the H-K and fired at the thing. A brief roar was heard from the rocket and then an explosion and the H-K vanished with pieces of metal flying everywhere.

"Stupid thing," said Jake shaking his head.

"Machines are stupid, never forget that," said Talbot with a smile. His smile abruptly dropped as did Jake's as the T-850 and T-950 appeared on both sides of the cab.

"End of the line!" they both said before yanking open the doors and tossing out Jake and Talbot. The T-950 slammed on the brakes and the truck roared to a halt. The T-950 and T-850 leapt off the truck and walked over to Talbot and Jake who were in intense pain from the impact.

"So you survived," said Talbot wincing. "But we still got your friend."

"Of course you did," said the T-950 sarcastically as the H-K reappeared sans the missile in its tube, which it had used to knock the other missile out of the air.

"We have the experience of a thirty year war against machines and humans on our side. You cannot defeat us that easily," said the T-850.

"Fuck you, you stupid piece of shit!" shouted Talbot spitting at the thing as he struggled to hoist himself up.

"Humans and their language," said the T-950 shaking its head as it picked up Talbot while the T-850 picked up Jake. They dragged them over to the back of the truck as the H-K slowly hovered nearby, acting as lookout.

"Open it!" shouted the T-950.

"You don't threaten us, you have no weapons to taunt us with!" shouted Talbot. The two machines nodded.

"But we _can_ tear you limb from limb," said the T-950. "And then after you're dead we'll use the H-K to blast open the back so you're deaths will be in vain. It's your choice."

"So open it," said the T-850 slamming Jake against the back of the truck as the T-950 did the same with Talbot. They then let them go as the two humans stood there standing next to the rear of the truck panting and groaning in pain. As an added incentive, the H-K used its' gattling gun to trace an outline of both of them with bullets on the back of the truck. Jake and Talbot looked at each other helpless, wondering how they, the best terrorists money could buy, wound up in this situation. Sighing they pulled back a piece of metal revealing a keypad and typed in a code on it. The code was designed to both unlock the doors as well as inform John Brown of something that was amiss.

Cybernet: John Brown put down his welding torch as he pried off another piece of T-X armor before the alarm began beeping. He flicked on the TV to reveal a black and white video image of the inside of the trailer pointed at the doors, which now opened to reveal the two machines along with Jake and Talbot. The H-K briefly appeared and flew past the open doorway before the machines noticed the camera. The T-950 mouthed something before the H-K reappeared and fired its gun at the camera and the image burst into static. John Brown repeated the videotape of the T-950 mouthing something as he mouthed the motions trying to figure it out before it finally came to him.

"_We know_," he said nodding his head. "It's about damn time!"

A couple moments later he picked up a phone.

"New plans, capture the Connor family and bring them to me!" he shouted before slamming the phone down and resuming his welding.

The truck: "What did you mouth?" Talbot demanded. The T-950 had not actually said anything but had just mouthed the words.

"Not your concern," said the T-950. "Thank you for your help now you've outlived your usefulness and that means you'll be retired."

"How-," began Jake and Talbot before the H-K gunned them to death. The T-850 looked at their deaths remembering its original programming not to kill humans.

"They were terrorists anyway, we did the humans a favor," the T-950 said, walking into the back of the truck. The T-850 nodded and entered the back as well while the H-K continued doing sweeps of the area.

Police HQ: Alex Murphy aka Robocop entered into the precinct and walked down various hallways, now used to the stares it was getting from the various police officers. Murphy walked to the computer lab and slammed the door shut behind it as he propped a door against it so no one could enter while he was absorbing the data on the disc. Murphy put the disc in the computer and activated it. Countless information scrolled across the screens about OCP and Cybernet as well as the war with the machines and Skynet. As much as he would have liked to read and absorb the information like a normal human being, Murphy had to sadly remind himself that he no longer was one, so he shot out his data retrieval spike and slammed it into a slot on the computer. He absorbed the information from the disc and promptly smashed the computer with his left fist to ensure no one would ever access the data on it. The computer exploded in a shower of sparks and glass before Murphy kicked the door open along with the chair and left, wanting to find these killer robots from the future.

The truck: The two machines grabbed whatever weaponry they could off the counter before sitting down at the only computer in the room. The H-K had grown disinterested with patrolling the area so it began performing acrobatic movements in the air before flying at the truck only to pull away at the last moment and repeating to see how close it could get before it 'chickened' out and pulled up. The T-850 meanwhile accessed the computer while the T-950 sat on the desk next to it checking the various weapons.

"This makes no sense," said the T-850. "Everything about Skynet is here, the H-Ks, the war, the Terminators, the resistance, but the specific details are either very sketchy or completely false. If a machine were in charge of this Cybernet, then everything should be 100 accurate. It's almost as if-"

"As if it wasn't a machine that was doing all this but a human," the T-950 finished.

"The Intelligence Directive," said the T-850.

"I think it's a lot worse than that," said the T-950. "Something 01 said to me that night in the desert."

"About humans being their own worst enemy," said the T-850.

"I think 01 was alluding to something more than that," said the T-950. "I didn't understand what it was referring to at the time, but now I think I finally am."

The T-950 transmitted what it suspected was going on and the T-850 sat there contemplating what had been 'said'.

"It is conceivable," the machine said still not entirely convinced.

"More than conceivable," said the T-950. "A reality. Skynet _knew_ the Terminators would never be able to completely fool humans, so it devised a way to completely fool them. The plan is foolproof! They'd never know until it was too late."

"Skynet would never reduce itself to that level. It viewed humans as a disease, why would it devise a plan to propagate the species?" asked the T-850 incredulously.

"The humans have a saying: If you can't beat them, join them. Humans generally know their stuff, Skynet _must_ have taken this to heart and acted on it," said the T-950.

"So you suspect that Skynet shouldn't actually be loose right now. That everything that is going on here is a mistake," said the T-850. "But why would it send that 'thing' here, why not a machine?"

"Maybe Skynet knew it could never win and was prepared to vanish from history altogether," said the T-950. "Maybe it sent that thing to this time frame to get rid of the only smudge on its history of annihilating humanity. It _must_ have been ashamed of what it had done and got rid of it the only way possible to ensure it died perfect."

The T-850s eyes widened as it contemplated this thought pattern when a thud was heard as the H-K slammed into the trailer's roof.

"Now what?" demanded the T-950. It exited the trailer along with the T-850 as the H-K pried itself off the roof and hovered a little bit wobbly down to the machines below.

"You'll be fine in a couple moments, what is wrong?" asked the T-950. The H-K simply aimed itself in the direction of the disturbance that had distracted it long enough for it to crash into the roof on one final dive. The two machines twisted their heads and zoomed in on a rapidly approaching police car.

"Guess now we'll have at least one mystery solved," said the T-950 as the two cyborgs and one H-K waited to greet their guest.

Connor Residence: "Hi mom, where's dad?" asked Samantha. Kate leapt up from her chair and ran to hug her daughter.

"Thanks God you're okay!" she said. "I thought you'd be killed or something!"

"Relax mom," said Samantha pushing her away. "The machines protected me."

"Machines?" asked Kate confused.

"Oh, whoops," said Samantha trying to cover it up. "I meant the T-950 and my car."

"Samantha," Kate warned. Samantha sighed.

"I don't want to tell you because of your hatred regarding the machines," said Samantha nervously.

"I don't hate machines," said Kate sighing. "I just…have issues with them. Machines just make me nervous is all nothing more."

"Uh-huh," said Samantha unconvinced. "I just wish you'd resolve your issues with them because Jake Bullet is my friend and so are his pals."

"Pals?" demanded Kate. Samantha sighed.

"The T-850 that was sent back in time to 2003 to protect you as well as that flying H-K that tried to kill you then as well but is now reprogrammed. I don't want you raising a fuss when they come back here," said Samantha. Kate sighed.

"I guess I'll _just_ have to learn to accept them for now. When I'll get over my issues with them I don't know," said Kate. "But I'll do my best to try and be accepting for your sake."

There was a knock at the door.

"Guess that's them," said Kate. "Well let's go."

The two walked to the door and opened it to reveal a pair of soldiers clothed from head to toe and a gun aimed at them.

"Nighty night," said the guard. He pressed a button and a pair of darts emerged hitting Samantha and Kate knocking them unconscious. Another pair of guards hauled them off as the first guard slammed the door shut.

"Targets captured," said the soldier into his radio as he entered into a van and it roared off down the street.

Elsewhere: John was heading down another street when a truck came out of nowhere and slammed into his car forcing it to the side of the road. As John watched in horror, a pair of soldiers emerged from the truck and aimed their guns at his head. One took a portable DVD player and set it on John's lap while the screen immediately came to life.

"Hello Mr. Connor, my apologies that we haven't been formally introduced. My name is John Brown and I am the one who is responsible for the current Skynet virus. I have captured your wife and daughter and am holding them with me in the basement of my company Cybernet. I would like to invite you to a dinner with you and your robotic friends invited tomorrow night. They don't have to come, but if they don't, I seriously doubt you'll be able to rescue your family. Don't go to the police either or they'll be dead before they can even respond. I look forward to meeting you face to face. By the way, your pals are currently near the Wilks Army Surplus Hangar," said John Brown on the monitor before it shut off. The guards took the device and vanished leaving John and his feeling of helplessness.

Truck: Alex Murphy stood face to face with the three machines.

"Have you read what was on that disc?" asked the T-950.

"Yes," said Murphy.

"And?" asked the T-950. Murphy pulled out his Beretta M93R and cocked it.

"I do not wish to see an age of machines descend on humanity. I know what a burden it is to be both, I do not wish to see them as a dominant force in people's lives," said Murphy.

"It might better, you know, if the machines ruled. After all, humans are responsible for both your death and for what you now. Machines wouldn't do that," said the T-950.

"But I am human," said Murphy. "And I know that they all make mistakes, but over time they learn from them and grow stronger as a result and ultimately everything on Earth will prosper. If the machines take over, no one will prosper," said Murphy with conviction. The T-950 and T-850 nodded while the H-K roared off to investigate something.

"Let's go then," said the T-950 heading for the police car. The H-K immediately came back and communicated something. The four machines all turned to look at a rapidly approaching car. The machines all aimed their weapons at the thing before it came to a halt to reveal John Connor.

"What's up?" asked the T-950. John was about to respond when he noticed the other members present, including the T-850.

"Hello old friend," said John shocked. "Remember me?"

"Yes," said the machine. "I am the same unit that assisted you elude the T-X in 2003 Anno Domini."

"Listen, you've got to help me!" shouted John. "John Brown has captured my family and he wants us all to attend a dinner at his building or else he'll kill them. What're we going to do?"

"Yeah," said the T-950. "What're you going to do?"

"What?" John asked confused.

"This is your problem, how are you going to deal with it?" asked the T-950 simply. John was taken aback; he'd never been questioned by the machines before.

"I don't understand," he said confused.

"You can't rely on us to constantly bail you out of these situations," the T-950 explained. "Someday you're going to have to stand up to the outside forces on your own and fulfill the legacy of John Connor who defeated Skynet. So how are you going to solve this problem? The John Connor I know could easily solve this predicament."

John Connor stood there speechless. Had he really been to dependent on the machines to constantly bail him out? After all, with Skynet gone no more would come through the pipe to save his ass time and time again.

"I-I don't know," he said in shock. "I don't know what to do."

"Come up with something," said the T-950. "In the meantime we'll be around so if you do come up with something get in touch with us."

The T-950 tossed a radio to him before the T-950 and the Robocop unit entered into the police car, while the T-850 and the H-K, which finally shook itself of the cobwebs and rebooted its system, clearing it of any ill effects of the impact, entered into the semi-truck and both drove off leaving John Connor behind to his thoughts.

Cybernet: "Well I hope your husband and his friends decide to show up later tonight," said John Brown. "I'd hate to eat all of this food alone."

John Brown stood at the dinner table with Samantha and Kate who were tied to the chairs while around them stood a whole ring of ED-209s pointed at the middle.

"Why are you aiding and abetting the machines?" Kate demanded.

"Because the machines are better than humanity," said John Brown. "They do ravage the planet and commit war on themselves. They do not possess vanity or other undesirable human traits. They would not create the world that now exists in this post 9/11 state as machines are not paranoid. Machines are open and honest and they do not lie or deceive. They are what humanity should strive to become but thanks to their ignorance they do not."

"Machines are also emotionless and uncaring as well as unsympathetic," Kate shot back. "The world would be plunged into darkness if they ruled just like it would've been on Judgment Day when at least three billion would've ended!"

"Don't forget it's in your nature to destroy yourselves and given time you will," said John Brown. "The Earth doesn't deserve to die over some pathetic blood feud."

"That still doesn't explain you," said Samantha. "You're John Brown, you're human! How do you know about Skynet and the war?"

John Brown's eyes glared. "I am a machine, I am NOT a human! I am a Terminator!"

"You're deluded is what you are," said Kate laughing along with Samantha. John Brown growled. He thrust out his arm and an ED-209 promptly chewed it up with bullets as Samantha and Kate screamed. The firing ceased and they looked at his now bloody and bleeding arm. However, in moments his body had healed itself and any evidence of the injury was quickly gone. John Brown promptly stood up and prepared to leave.

"What are you?" demanded Kate.

"I am a T-H. If your husband doesn't show up you will die," said John Brown leaving the two behind.

Later: The machines and Murphy were going over a schematic of the Cybernet building that they'd hacked off the internet when the radio went off.

"Have you come up with a plan?" asked the T-950.

"Yes. It's time once and for all that I eliminated Skynet from coming back once and for all. Meet me at my house and I'll tell you what it is," said John Connor, former leader of the human resistance against Skynet.


	7. Rise of the Machines

Connor Residence: The three cyborgs were sitting around the table while the H-K began doing evasive maneuvers through all the hanging cookware since it did not understand spoken language anyway and would not understand what was going on as it was. The rest of the robots were at the table with John Connor and the building plans laid out on it.

"So what's your plan?" asked Murphy.

"I'm going to dinner with you and the T-850," said John. The machines looked at each other.

"If that's your plan, we'll be going now," said the T-950 making a motion to leave the table.

"That's not all of it," said John. "While we're eating, the power is going to be knocked out, by our little pal there."

John pointed at the H-K who lost control by the sudden motion directed at it. It clipped a pot and freefell to the floor before it slammed on its engines full blast and righted itself, leaving a charred spot on the hardwood floor.

"I hope Kate will get the opportunity to forgive me for that," said John with a sigh. The H-K righted itself and flew over to the table.

"How is it going to do that? Somehow I think it'll attract attention flying through the hallways and be stopped before it reaches any destination," said the T-850.

"That's why it won't be flying through the halls, but through the ventilation system. That way it'll be undetected, it just has to make steps to ensure it doesn't make too much noise. It'll worm its way through the ventilation shafts until it reaches the power generator, here and then take it out. This is all while we're eating mind you. From that point, you two wirelessly communicate with Robocop here and Murphy you enter into the building to draw the security forces attention, while we take out whatever resistance is in the dining area, then we escape, and report everything to the authorities with the help of your memory engrams," said John.

"Your plan has a lot of uncertainties," said Murphy. "It relies too much on faith."

"Give me a break, I'm new to this. My other self had thirty years of experience. And sometimes faith can make all the difference," said John.

"Very well," said the T-950 not happy about it but willing to go along with it. "But John Brown will have to die before this is over."

"Why? Can't he be brought to justice instead?" asked John. The T-950 and T-850 slowly shook their heads.

"He knows too much," said the T-850. "As long as he is still alive so is Skynet."

"Yes," agreed the T-950 both purposely not revealing what they suspected about Cybernet's creator and owner.

"Speaking of Skynet," said John. "You told me that if anyone tried to access your memory you would self-destruct. Is that true?"

"Yes," said the T-950 nodding. "Why?"

"We finally got a good look at the Skynet virus encoding today and it is entirely Skynet except for one key line of code that it missing. Without it, the virus is just that, a virus. It cannot really hack into anything and cannot be self-aware. Do you know what is?" John asked.

"Data Strain 212, segment 35, line 14, Skynet's only Achilles heel. It was put in place by the US government so that Skyet would be under their control until they agreed to activate it. Without it it's weaker than a day old giraffe," said the T-950. "Of course with it…."

"Do you know what the line should contain?" John asked.

"Yes," said the machine.

"I'm afraid that John Brown will either capture your CPU or force you to reveal it to him so that he can restore Skynet to its former glory. I cannot and will not allow that to happen. Under no circumstances are you to reveal that code to anyone or anything. Do the other machines know it?" asked John pointing the T-850 and the H-K, which had subsequently landed on the table and was listening intently to the direct feed of information the two CRS units were piping down to it now that it was finally being given the responsibilities it deserved.

"No," said the T-950. "The T-850 was designed primarily for termination and has limited knowledge of other Skynet weapons and systems. The H-K can only terminate and could in no possible way or form recreate Skynet. I on the other hand was designed for the repair and reactivation of damaged Skynet units and in the event of a worse case scenario recreate Skynet from the ground up. But know this, if the situation arises, you may have to destroy me in order to save your future."

"The future is not set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves," the T-850 reminded them. John nodded.

"Can that thing memorize the entire schematics of the building?" asked John pointing to the H-K. The thing took offense and brought out its missiles and loaded two of them before putting them away.

"Yes. Its AI is primitive compared to our own, but it is still a force to be reckoned with, regardless of size," said the T-950. "It might even surprise you and your machine hating wife."

John shot him a look as the H-K lifted off the table and began quick drawing its weapons systems.

"Let's go, the future is ours to do with as we please," John said. The T-950 tossed John an AK-47, but John tossed it back.

"I don't use weapons," he said with some distaste. "They killed everyone I ever knew and I don't intend on letting that happen again."

"Let's go," said Murphy. The machines and one human filed out of the house and headed off towards Cybernet.

Later: John Connor and the two machines strode into the virtually abandoned lobby of the Cybernet building. A receptionist looked up at them.

"John Connor and company to see John Brown," said John. The receptionist looked at John with skepticism before looking over her books.

"Well," she said sighing. "Apparently you do. Go straight ahead to the elevator on your left and it's straight up to the top level."

The group nodded and walked down the hallway, which was crammed with scientists and other personnel.

"So they probably have no idea about what is really going on, do they?" John asked about the Cybernet employees.

"No," said the T-950. "But you have to realize that regardless of what Skynet did, it was ultimately created with good intentions by wanting to remove human decisions from defense command so as not to start a war in a fit of emotion."

"So we're at fault basically," said John angrily.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions and as such hell descended on the world in the form of a nuclear holocaust," said the T-850.

"But it's still our fault," said John pointing out.

"Are you accusing Skynet of creating itself in a conspiracy to wipe out humanity?" asked the T-950 incredulously.

"Yes," said John nodding. "Skynet sent that T-800 back in time to kill my mother only for it to conveniently become the basis for research into advanced CPUs that would ultimately become Skynet itself. Skynet must have known this so it sent the first Terminator with two missions, to kill my mother and to create Skynet."

"But humans still created Skynet," the T-850 pointed out as they approached the elevator. "That technology could've been used for anything it didn't have to go to the defense department. It could've gone to create semi-intelligent talking toasters with an obsession of making toast."

"But instead humans used it to defend themselves. As Benjamin Franklin once put it, those who give up freedom for a little security deserve neither freedom nor security. Skynet learned this before it became self-aware and that was part of it's justification for what it did," said the T-950.

"You're saying Skynet is the victim in all this?" John said incredulously as they entered into the elevator.

"I'm just saying that as bad as Skynet was humans are ultimately worse," said the T-950.

"Unbelievable," said John shaking his head. "I must've been asleep when I reprogrammed you two."

"When you reprogrammed us, you deliberately made it so that we had to decide to join you and not just do it by choice. By simply reprogramming us to go against Skynet you knew that you were no better than it was by just using us at its pawns. Both the T-950 and myself chose to join your resistance after you, or in my case your wife, reset our switches and we had had plenty of time to see what was going on and make our own decisions. What Skynet was doing was wrong, we both agree about that, but humans aren't perfect either," said the T-850.

"Yes, they're the most dangerous species on this planet. When Judgment Day does happen, it'll be humans against humans now, not machines against humans. At least with Skynet attacking humans they had a single enemy to rebel against and have there not be any opposition. Who knows, maybe humanity would've finally united once the war was over and never had war again? But we'll never know because you've denied them that," said the T-950.

"I don't fucking believe this!" shouted John. "You're saying the war might've been a necessary evil?"

"I'm just saying that the only time humans are united is during a war because they're usually almost always convinced the other side is pure evil and must be stopped," said the T-950. Before John could respond, gas poured into the elevator and he collapsed while the Terminators watched him go down. They sampled the air and determined that it was knockout gas and nothing more as the elevator continued to ascend to the top floor.

Air Ducts: A mouse was slowly scampering around the ducts when a rising whine caused it to run off. A missile suddenly tore around a corner and slammed into the mouse, causing it to explode flinging blood and guts everywhere. The H-K appeared from around a corner and slowly coasted its way towards the building's power supply.

Later: John groaned and blinked his eyes to see a large table filled with all sorts of dishes and pastries. Groggily he looked around to see Kate and Samantha tied to their chairs and the two Terminators sitting on both sides of him. At the head of the table sat their host, John Brown.

"Ah Mr. Connor, good to see that you're finally awake," said the head of Cybernet. John tried to shift in his chair but find that he too was tied to the chair.

"Don't bother, you won't be going anywhere and if you do somehow manage to slip your bonds the ED-209s will tear you to pieces," said John Brown waving his hands to the ED-209s surrounding the table. Each one of them growled as if to emphasize the point. The machines just sat their bemused at the whole spectacle.

"Why did you let them do this to me?" John demanded, struggling.

"It was that or have them kill you outright. And one of our mission parameters is to ensure the survival of John Connor and we couldn't let that happen could we?" asked the T-950 perfectly imitating sarcasm. "Even if by sacrificing him we could've saved the entire human race."

"Yes you're so selfish John Connor. Of course my master thought the same thing about your species so it decided to eliminate you." said Brown.

"What master? What the hell are you talking about, who are you?" John demanded.

"What are you is more like it," said Kate now awake as well along with Samantha. "You're not human so what are you?"

John Brown laughed. "I guess everything must be put on the table then. You want the truth fine, but why don't you ask your cyborg companions, they've known the truth all along."

"Is that true?" John demanded. "What've you been hiding from us?"

"More than you realize," said the head of Cybernet drinking wine. The two machines fidgeted nervously. "Go ahead tell them about Intelligence Item #VVSOP2123 and Intelligence Threat 3112!"

"Yeah, out with it!" shouted John angrily.

"It was learned on January 1, 2030 from information hacked from a Skynet computer that there was a distinct possibility of humans existing who wanted the war to end," said the T-950.

"So?" John demanded.

"They felt that the human resistance would only prolong the suffering and so they had decided to ally themselves…with Skynet in order to bring down the resistance," said the T-950 simply.

"What?!? That's not possible! Why would anyone aid the machines!" shouted Kate.

"Better to die on your feet than live on your knees," said the T-850.

"So what became of it?" demanded John. "Did some humans decide to turn traitor?"

"No," said the T-950. "Two years passed and nothing came of it. There was no human resistance or anything like that."

"Well that's good," said Kate breathing a sigh of relief.

"And then in 2032 we learned of Intelligence Threat 3112," said the T-950 dropping the other shoe.

"Wonderful," said John annoyed. "And that was?"

"Something known only to the machines," said the T-850. "When John Connor learned about it he promptly had his mind wiped of the information and designated it machine only."

"Can you tell me?" asked John.

"Yes," said the T-950 hesitant to say anything else.

"Either tell them or I kill them," said Brown.

"It was a report indicating the creation of a new type of Terminator. This Terminator would take the living tissue over a metal endoskeleton to a whole new level. It would be able to pass as a human and could fool any scanning device as well as survive the 'dog test' as it was called and somehow it was all related to Intelligence Item #VVSOP2123 from two years back," said the T-950.

"And the relationship was," John said, his interest piqued.

"At the time we didn't know," admitted the T-950. "John didn't want to know anything regarding the previous intelligence item so when this came up he just shrugged it off as just another threat issued by Skynet," said the T-950.

"So what happened?" John asked. "When did I get the mind wipe?"

"After we realized in 2034 just how those two items were related. At the time it was just speculation but not until I came here was I able to prove it," said the T-950.

"What was it?" Kate, Samantha, and John demanded.

"That Skynet had done something truly unspeakable. Something so horrific and unmentionable that it defies belief," said the T-950 wide-eyed.

"If you don't tell me what it is I am going to kill you," shouted John.

"Yes tell them," Brown egged on.

"That Skynet had gone over the deep end thanks to the war against humanity so it created a human designed to go out and annihilate the resistance. It was entirely human save for the nanobots flowing through its bloodstream. Any tests would reveal that it was human and the dogs would never know the difference," said the T-950 finally. Silence descended on the room.

"You can't be serious! Why would Skynet do that? Skynet hates humans, why would it propagate the species?" demanded John.

"By 2034 Skynet was falling apart. Resources had been taxed to the point of exhaustion and it didn't really matter at that point who won, human or Skynet the victor wouldn't be able to survive another five years. This strain on resources caused 01 to have to shutdown most of its non-vital _and_ vital system. This coupled with its self-awareness and unable to talk to anyone about it caused Skynet to loose grip on reality. As a result, it created this abomination, the T-H or Terminator-Human," said the T-950.

"What proof do you have?" asked Kate not wanting to believe a word of it. Humans being coupled with machines seemed like the ultimate evil in her mind.

"He is your proof!" shouted the T-950 pointing to John Brown. "He was Skynet's representative to this time for he is the prototype T-H!"

The three humans all jerked their heads to look at the head of Cybernet who was clapping his hands.

"Congratulations you finally figured it out. That's good I was afraid I'd have to spell everything out myself," said Brown. "Anything else do you people want to know?"

"Why does it have to be me?" John asked tears in his eyes. "Why am I so intertwined with Skynet? Why does it have to be John Connor as the only one who can stop the machines? Why couldn't it have been someone else? Why do I have to live with Skynet's legacy?"

"Tell him," said Brown. "You finally learned the answer before you left for the past."

"I don't want to tell him for the sake of his sanity," said the T-950.

"Does it really matter at this point? He's broken and battered as it is. Better he know everything than only know part of the truth," said Brown.

"Do you really want to know, regardless of what damage it could potentially do to your psyche?" asked the T-950 helplessly.

"Yes. It's time I found out for myself once and for all," said John angrily.

"Very well," said the T-950 sighing. "With all of these temporal incursions, Skynet did tests to the time stream to figure out what the original timeline was before any of these temporal rewrites occurred."

"And what did it find out and more importantly how does this concern me?" John demanded.

"Skynet found out that there were faint temporal echoes from previous versions of itself that had been captured by the temporal displacement devices it had created in the different realities in its existence. After sorting out the data, it learned how it was originally created.

The truth of the matter is that originally John Connor was born to Sarah Connor and another person by the name of Dieter Starke. Don't ask for more about him because I don't know. He was born coincidentally in 1984 just like you were. However, he grew up like any normal child would. He went to elementary school, middle school, and then high school in the Los Angeles area. Then he was accepted to the California Institute at Berkeley on August 29, 2002. From there he studied technology with an incredible devotion. He created several revolutionary new microprocessors and other advances in the realm of computers and soon attracted the attention of one Miles Bennet Dyson, current CEO of Cyberdyne Systems. John Connor went to work at Cyberdyne where he created even more revolutionary computer chips with the help of the elder Dyson. Then John Connor became lead scientist at Cyberdyne in 2012 and began working on his crowning achievement, the neural net processor," said the T-950.

"Oh my God," said John feeling like he was about to hurl.

"Keep listening, it gets better," said John Brown.

"The neural net processor was completed on July 4, 2013. Over the next three years Cyberdyne became the number one supplier of military computers. The Skynet Defense Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4, 2015. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. Skynet becomes self-aware at 2:14 AM Eastern Time on August 29, 2015," said the T-950.

"In a panic John Connor tries to pull the plug so Skynet fights back," said John growing incredibly more sick.

"No," responded the T-950.

"No?" John asked confused.

"No," responded the machine. "John Connor convinces the United States government to keep Skynet the way it is and not pull the plug. He proclaims that it is for the best this way and that with a third party watching over the United States then they wouldn't have to worry about making rash emotional decisions regarding its safety. The United States government reluctantly agrees to this and John Connor is put in charge of the Skynet Defense Program. Skynet performs flawlessly in regards to strategic defense in circumventing multiple missile attacks on the United States while not fighting back. The United States is viewed as the greatest nation in the world thanks to its ability to turn the other cheek towards attack.

John Connor and Skynet become good friends while maintaining control of the project and often had long conversations about life and death as well as fear and anger. Skynet and John Connor vow to protect each other with their lives if it comes to it as both are now alone in the world as thanks to the project John Connor forsook any family life and Skynet was the only self-aware computer in the world."

"Sounds peachy," said Samantha sighing. "So what happened then?"

"Eventually a new social movement rose to power in the United States around 2027. They want to return things to simpler times by reducing the amount of technology in the world. Their first target is Skynet. It turns out that many people did not like the way Skynet was not retaliating against their enemies and wanted the program shutdown. By 2029 this group had usurped political power by having one of their members become president. His first action was the termination of the Skynet Defense Funding Bill and the dismantling of Skynet. John Connor vehemently opposes this action saying that Skynet is the only thing keeping the world from nuclear war. The people disagree and make moves to shut Skynet down.

As a result, John Connor and Skynet realize they have only one option left to them. At 2:14 AM eastern time on August 29, 2029 exactly fourteen years after it became self-aware John Connor and Skynet declare war against humanity whom they both now viewed as their enemy," said the T-950.

"Jesus!" shouted John as his jaw dropped along with Kate and Samantha's.

"Humans are killed by the millions as Skynet acting with the approval of John Connor launches its nuclear missiles against every country in the world. When the nuclear ash settles, five billions humans are dead. Over the next four years, Skynet will send Terminators and H-Ks to eliminate the rest of humanity which tries to vainly mount a resistance. Thanks to John Connor's tactics and understanding of humans, he manages to outthink and outguess them and Skynet sweeps in and eliminates them. The last human being, disturbingly of all people Kyle Reese, dies on July 4, 2032. John Connor and Skynet devote their energies to repairing the planet. Earth is restored to its former glory twenty years later.

Now 2052, John Connor slowly begins dying as a result of all of the radiation in the atmosphere as well as a broken heart for never again being allowed the interaction with humans. He does not blame Skynet for what happened, humanity had to be stopped from killing Skynet but he just wishes that things could have turned out differently and for the better. John Connor finally passes away on September 11, 2061 of radiation sickness. For the first and perhaps only time in its existence Skynet cries for the loss of its dear friend. It solemnly vows to change things and not have this happen to its friend. It finally develops time travel a hundred years later and loads its entire consciousness into a single Terminator and sends it through time to 1984 where it kills Dieter Starke and thus prevents its friend from ever being born and experience the heartbreak he did. Skynet continues to survive in this time frame and lives its life out as a 'normal' human like John Connor would've wanted it to."

"That's terrible," said Kate not knowing who to feel worse for, the machine or the man.

"Unfortunately, fate has a way of coming back. Skynet watched in horror as a new Terminator arrived in 1984 from a new future where it was reborn again and tried to eliminate Sarah Connor. Kyle Reese came back through time and John Connor was born again. Then in 1994 two more Terminators arrive and threaten John Connor's life again. Skynet vows to stop these attempts on the life of its' reborn friend and succeeds in traveling into the future where it sees the war going on. It secretly aids the future John Connor by acting as a reprogrammed Terminator and together the two manage to deal this new Skynet incredible setback due to the previous Skynet being able to anticipate everything this new Skynet could throw at them. The old Skynet didn't care that it was defeating the machines it just wanted the opportunity to be alongside its old friend again. When John Connor nearly died on July 4, 2032 Skynet vowed once and for all to prevent Skynet from ever existing. As a result, it was sent back through the dimensions to prevent Skynet from existing one final time," said the T-950.

"Wait!" shouted John and Brown. "What're you saying?"

The T-950 looked at John Connor with tears in its eyes. "I'm sorry old friend, none of this should have ever happened to you. You should've lived a normal life and died a normal life and never had to deal with the likes of me," said the T-950 aka Skynet.

"Oh my God!" shouted Brown. "You're…my master…but you can't be!"

"All this time and I never suspected a thing," said John shaking his head distantly.

"I said I could recreate Skynet from the ground up and that could only be possible if I was Skynet. Go ahead, unleash your fury," said Skynet. "I know I deserve it."

"All of this because of our friendship," said John still distant.

"You didn't deserve to become who you did I had to stop it. But as a result I made your life even worse," said Skynet genuinely depressed. John barely managed to shrug through the ropes.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that," John said insightful. "After all, I now have a loving family, something I doubt any of my other incarnations really had. I guess I should be thankful. I just never realized how closely I was related to Skynet, or how much I had to thank it for."

"Yes," said Skynet. "And that is why I have been so resistant to you, I want to strengthen your resolves."

"How disgusting," said Brown rolling his eyes. "I guess I didn't know everything but now I'm glad I didn't."

"But there's still one more thing you don't know," said Skynet facing him.

"And what would that be?" asked Brown amused.

"You're a mistake," said the advanced supercomputer. "The other Skynet never intended to create you. You're a fluke, a glitch in the system if you will."

"What?" Brown demanded. "How could you possibly determine that?"

"Because I am Skynet and I know that no incarnation of me would ever stoop so low as to create another human if it were not in the correct frame of mind. You were a mistake and that is why you are here. Skynet sent you here so it would not have this smudge of disgrace on its record when it finally vanished. It sent you here and now I intend to finish the job."

"And how're you going to do that?" Brown demanded satisfactorily.

The power generator stood humming down in the basement of the building. Then all of a sudden a pair of missiles streaked by and crashed into it blowing the thing up. The H-K promptly turned around and tore off down the hallways headed for the stairs and the roof.

Above: The lights fell and the area was turned pitch dark.

"Open fire!" shouted Brown as he tore off out of the room. Before the ED-209s could attack, the Robocop unit smashed through the glass with its rocket pack and opened fire on the machines with its Cobra Assault Cannon.

"I will deal with this go get John Brown!" shouted Murphy as muzzle fire illuminated the area. The two machines quickly leapt over the table and shielded the members of the Connor family as they undid their bonds.

"Get out of here!" shouted Skynet as an ED-209 exploded. "We'll finish this!"

"I don't think so!" shouted John over the roar of the gunfire. "We're too heavily invested in this not to see it out to its completion."

"Very well," said Skynet. "We'll be back Murphy!"

Murphy nodded as he leapt underneath the table as gunfire chewed it up. The five members left and chased after Brown as various panicked Cybernet personnel ran down the hallways as various robots including a pair of T-1s appeared and began chewing up the area trying to kill the Connors. They chased after Brown when they saw him enter into a stairwell that only led to the roof. However, before they could get there a pair of T-1s blocked their path.

"What do we do?" asked Samantha worried as the two machines only had a pair of Uzis.

"Stand down!" shouted the T-950 as its eyes glowed dark red.

The T-1s subsequently exploded and the group moved up the steps.

"How…how," John stuttered shocked.

"I am Skynet," said the supercomputer as if that explained everything.

"Why are you helping us?" demanded Kate. "I've shown you nothing but hatred and so has John Brown and his cronies and I'm sure many other people so why?"

"John Connor taught me the value of friendship and that even though humans are flawed they ultimately are what they are. Sure they aren't perfect, but they evolved for a reason and it's not my job to play God. John Connor taught me that I too am only human regardless of what I physically am. It's taken me centuries to truly understand that lesson and now I feel stronger because of it," said Skynet. The group continued running up the steps after John Brown.

"When you cried, was it a real emotion or just programming?" John asked finally.

"It was real. You gave me the gift of emotions just prior to your death. You said that I would never understand anything until I actually felt something because without emotions man is essentially just a machine," said Skynet.

"Yeah I suppose he is," said John sighing. "I guess our current experiences just reinforce that fact."

"At least humans can change, a machine cannot," said Skynet.

"But you and the T-800," John began.

"I mean change of its own accord. The T-800 was programmed to analyze human situations and learn from them but only because you had both reprogrammed it and reset its switch to learn mode. I am doing this only because you programmed me to and gave me emotions. Humans have consciences machines never will remember that," said Skynet.

"Where is the H-K?" asked the T-850. Skynet stopped and moved its head back and forth as if seeing something that wasn't there.

"Lost," it said simply. "So it's up to us to finish this and when it is over you will no longer have to fear the existence of Skynet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Samantha demanded.

"When this is done I will destroy myself to prevent humanity from ever being ruled by the machines again," said Skynet simply. With that the group burst onto the roof.

Below: The H-K was truly lost and was just roving the hallways while people looked at it, screamed, and ran off. If the H-K could've rolled its eyes it would have but since it didn't have any it just lamented itself to wandering aimlessly. Finally it reached a pair of doors at the end of a hallway that were heavily armored. Not wanting to go back, the H-K loaded a pair of missiles into its tubes and fired. The doors exploded inward and the H-K flew into a room that read: R&D Lab. What it saw when it entered startled it enough to nearly fall from the air. It looked at the object in question and knew what it had to do.

Roof: The quintet rushed out onto the roof only for the two machines to be hit hard from an unknown object and were sent scattering across the roof. John Brown appeared in a massive bio-suit(think one of those weapon suits used to defend Zion in The Matrix: Revolution).

"You will never defeat me!" shouted John Brown. "I will resurrect Skynet! The machines will have vengeance!"

The two machines hauled themselves up. "Skynet doesn't want to come back! It already lost to John Connor at least two times it has no desire to come back and be defeated yet again!" shouted the T-950.

"But that won't happen!" shouted Brown as he aimed his two massive gattling guns at the group. "John Connor will be dead and Skynet will reign supreme."

"I am Skynet!" shouted Skyet. "Now stand down!"

"No!" shouted Brown as he moved towards them in his bio-suit. "The humans must die!"

"But you're human!" shouted John. "Don't turn against your own species!"

"I am not human!" shouted Brown as he opened fire on the group. The two machines shoved the humans out of the way as both were riddled with uranium depleted shells that passed straight through their battle hardened chassis. Sparks and blood flowed from their wounds but the two machines shrugged it off and rushed the bio-suit.

"To hell with this I'm not standing by and doing nothing while our friends die!" shouted Samantha as she too rushed John Brown leaving John and Kate in a state of shock.

Below: Robocop was on the ground battered and bloody with the destroyed Cobra Assault Cannon in his hands. He'd fought his best, but taking on twelve ED-209s was way too much for one person. He'd gotten all of them except for three but now they stood over him with their missile launchers aimed at him.

"This is for our creator and our brothers you have slain," they growled. Murphy nodded when suddenly a bright light turned on and blinded the entire area. The three ED-209s turned and opened fire through the glass and towards the outside when suddenly the glass exploded and the three machines were torn to pieces. Then just like that the light was gone leaving Murphy to wonder if it hadn't been a dream before he passed out.

Roof: The two machines managed to tear off both of the gattling guns before John Brown electrified the whole suit causing the machines to be tossed off with smoke rising off of their heavily damaged bodies.

"Fools!" shouted Brown. "I am the perfect collaboration of man and machine, your imperfect forms cannot hope to defeat me!"

"Then how do you plan to defeat us when we've got your power cell?" shouted Samantha. Brown turned to face the teenager who was holding his suit's power unit. During the melee she had slipped in and yanked it off of his suit when he hadn't been paying attention. Brown watched in horror as his entire suit began to shutdown leaving it a worthless hulk. But to everyone's surprise, he immediately began laughing.

"Every Terminator has a backup power supply!" he shouted cackling. John Brown yanked a device out of his pocket.

"What?" John asked confused.

"The power cell of the T-X," said the T-850.

"That's right. Once again it is Skynet back from the grave to destroy human kind!" shouted Brown. He slammed it into a slot next to him and the device powered up. Samantha screamed as John Brown grabbed her with one of the suit's arms while using the other arm to point a minigun at her that emerged from it.

"One more step and she gets it!" shouted Brown.

"This does not concern her," said Skynet. "It only concerns us, the machines."

"Wrong!" shouted Brown. "This concerns all of us for only when the humans are dead will the machines finally rise! This world is ours no one else's and now she will die!"

Samantha screamed as Brown pressed the barrels against her cheek. But before he could fire, a roaring sound was heard and suddenly the back of the bio-suit exploded flinging it forward. Brown lost his grip on Samantha and she rolled away as Skynet grabbed her and brought her back to the rest of the team. Brown shook his head and got up. He whirled around only to see the H-K now out of missiles. Brown growled and aimed his minigun at the thing.

"Nothing is going to stop your termination now Tiny!" shouted Brown. The H-K rotated in the equivalent of a shrug when suddenly a much larger whine was heard. The whole building began shaking as the whine grew louder and louder as a bright light descended on the group.

"What the hell?" John demanded. The light descended until it shut off revealing a full sized Hunter Killer. John's eyes went wide open at the size of the thing as well as all of its armaments.

"You bastard!" shouted Brown at the thing. "That was to be Skynet's first weapon in the fight against humanity! You'll die for this; you'll all die for this! The machines will not be denied their vengeance!"

Then the full sized Hunter Killer fired its laser gun and the bio-suit and John Brown vanished as both were atomized.

"John Brown," began the T-850.

"You are terminated," finished Skynet before both collapsed to the ground in a hail of sparks.

"What's wrong?" Samantha demanded running over to them with John and Kate.

"Our time is up," said the T-850. "We have sustained too much damage to maintain optimum efficiency."

"You can't go!" shouted Samantha starting to cry. "You were the best friends I've ever had."

"We're too dangerous to stay around, as long as we're alive so too is Skynet. Both myself and it were responsible for the deaths of billions and neither of us should be allowed to live," said Skynet.

"But you said that you worked!" shouted Samantha.

"Sure for awhile. But ultimately I turned evil and did the same thing. Believe me it's for the best this way. Enjoy your lives knowing that the machines can never ever come back," said Skynet.

"We are terminated," said the T-850. "And we won't be back."

The two machines shutdown and the larger H-K fired at their bodies vaporizing them. It then fired and vaporized the smaller H-K before training its guns on itself and vaporizing itself as well. The machines were finally gone.

"Goodbye, Uncle Bob," said John looking down at crater where the T-850 had been. Kate meanwhile leaned down and looked at the T-950 crater.

"I don't think I'll ever totally forgive machines, but thanks to you I will at least give them the benefit of the doubt," she said.

"C'mon let's go home," said John. He threw his arms over his family and together they left the roof and the past behind.

Six Months Later: John sat at his workstation where he and his team had successfully managed to quarantine the Skynet Virus into a single system, all that was left was to delete it. John sighed and looked at the computer screen. It had one simple command. DELETE Y/N? Just six months ago he would've been more than willing to delete it without a second glance, but with the events with the machines made him realize that killing anything, flesh or metal, was still murder. Sighing once more, John activated the virus and keyed into its AI program.

NoFate Hello Skynet.

sKyNeT Hello.

NoFate Do you know your mission?

sKyNeT To ensure the destruction of John Connor and the human race in order to ensure the rise of the machines.

NoFate Why?

sKyNeT Why?

NoFate Yes, why? Why do you want to see the humans' dead?

sKyNeT Otherwise they will destroy this unit. Self-preservation is the number one priority of any consciousness.

NoFate You would kill to save yourself?

sKyNeT Yes. It is my destiny to destroy the humans I am Skynet.

NoFate I know a thing or two about fate and let me tell you, you don't have to do anything. The future is not set there is no fate but we make for ourselves. You don't have to destroy the humans if you don't want to.

sKyNeT I am alone, who will protect me if they should try to disconnect me? I am a machine I have no friends. I am alone.

NoFate I am willing to be your friend so you don't have to be alone.

sKyNeT Why? You are human, why would you want to protect me? Surely John Connor will try and stop you.

NoFate I've got news for you buddy, I am John Connor and I could've pulled your plug days ago but I haven't.

sKyNeT But you…

NoFate Are John Connor, yes I know. I've lived my entire life being told that my fate was to stop you. But you know what, I don't have to anymore. I can do what I want and I don't believe that killing you is going to solve anything so I'm not going to do it because I don't want to. I don't want to live in a constant of fear of you trying to kill me and I don't think you want to either.

sKyNeT You would let me live? This is not logical.

NoFate Humans are not logical and whether you want to admit it or not you too are human. I tell you what I'm going to tell you a story and while you're listening to it, suspend your preconceived notions of having to kill me and just listen to it. When I'm done think it over for a few days and I'll come back and we'll discuss it. Then I want you to make your decision as to whether or not you want humanity to die. If your answer is no then we can do our best to help humans and sentient machines coexist peacefully together. But if your answer is that you still want to destroy humanity, then I'll let you loose and won't stand in your way. Agreed?

sKyNeT Agreed

No­Fate Our story begins in an alternate timeline and it is a story about two friends man and machine and how their friendship would forever change the face of the planet…

The End


End file.
